US proposes removing Colorado River fish’s endangered status

DENVER — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it plans to propose reclassifying a rare Colorado River Basin fish called the razorback sucker from endangered to threatened status after a multiyear and multistate effort throughout the Southwestern U.S. to replenish its populations. Their adult numbers have since reached more than 50,000, thanks to the work of Fish and Wildlife and other federal and state agencies, Native American tribes, hatcheries, dam operators and landowners, said Tom Chart, director of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. “Our two core concerns here are the perilous climate future of the Colorado River Basin and, despite a robust program for stocking the razorback in the river, almost of none of those fish are reproducing successfully, with the exception of Lake Mead,” said Taylor McKinnon, whose work focuses on endangered species and public lands for the Center for Biological Diversity. It precludes establishing self-sustaining populations.” The proposed relisting acknowledges that “recruitment of razorback sucker to the adult life stage remains rare in all but one population, and the species currently depends on management actions in order for populations to be resilient.” Chart said Fish and Wildlife has and will work with its partners to address climate change’s effects in the future, especially when it concerns water flow.