Lost, A Desert River and its Native Fishes - Sierra Club

66 INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY REPORT--2002-0010
Young native fish have fed sport fish for nearly a
century. Early settlers used native young as bait for catfish
and bass. The large natives being stocked today will
produce young for several more decades that will continue
to feed recreational species like channel catfish and
largemouth bass. Natives are also extremely unique, not
being found anywhere else in the world. It is also possible
they may provide pharmaceutical benefits yet to be
discovered. We simply do not know. One thing for sure,
once they are gone, they are lost forever.
Aldo Leopold once said the art of tinkering is not to
lose any pieces of the puzzle. Unfortunately they are being
lost. Society acting through Congress, has mandated
that government agencies preserve these unique species
and ecosystems through the passage of the Endangered
Species Act and other environmental legislation. Unfortunately,
legislation by itself does not protect the environment,
only concerned citizens and agencies do. Wild
populations continue to decline, and while there are
people who care, in some circles, the loss of these unique
fish is viewed as the elimination of a —problem.“
Minckley and Deacon (1991) stated, —Native fishes
of the American West will not remain on earth without
active management...“ River communities can be
maintained through hatcheries and stocking large fish;
however, full recovery to self-sustaining populations in
the lower basin appears impossible. A smaller and more
attainable goal is to establish refugium populations that
will provide additional security for the species and time
needed to better understand these unique fish. After four
decades of research and debate, the initial steps toward
the construction of these facilities is slowly starting in
the lower basin; however, it will take the full commitment
from the public as well as the resource agencies if these
fish are going to survive.
Acknowledgments
This report would not have been possible without
the help of many fine people. We wish to thank R. Pepito,
Historian at Lake Mead National Recreation Area;
C. Chapman, R. Simms, A. Pernick, K. Conner, and
T. Burke, Bureau of Reclamation, Boulder City, Nevada;
K. Carr, Bureau of Reclamation, Yuma; C. Sund, U.S. Geological
Survey Library, Denver; K. War, the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas‘s Lied Library; C. DiAngles, the
Amon Carter Museum; S. McGlathlin, the Cline Library
(Kolb Collection), Flagstaff; S. Sheehen, the Arizona Historical
Society in Tucson; C. Brooks, the Arizona Historical
Society in Yuma; J. Sjoberg, Nevada Division of
Wildlife; and C. Graham, the Palo Verde Historical Museum
Society, Blythe, California. W. Rinne and
Dr. C. Minckley provided comments while J. Terrell,
K. Baker, and D.E. Medellin edited the report. J. Shoemaker
supervised formatting and desk editing.
We also wish to thank the following individuals who
shared their photographs, maps, and their memories:
M. Collier (photographs); R. Lingenfelter (maps);
J. Sleznick (story and photograph); C. McKnight (illustration);
W. Scott (story); K. Baldwin (story); D. Rupe
(story); J. Farmer (story); S. Soto (story); and M. Carter
(story).
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