Oregon Minnow Is The First Fish Recovered From Endangered Species List
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday its petition to remove Oregon chub from the Endangered Species List and touting the success story of a minnow that’s no more than three inches long.
Other fish have made it off the endangered species list -– but not because their numbers rebounded. In many cases, it was because they went extinct.
Oregon chub are a different story. Their numbers have grown from less than a thousand when they were listed as endangered in 1993 to 160,000 today. In the last 20 years, the known chub populations dotting the Willamette Valley has grown from eight to 80.
And guess where they found this endangered fish? Hmmm… Go ahead, I’ll wait.
But Auer says the idea was improve habitat for salmon, steelhead and waterfowl. He didn’t even know Oregon chub existed until Bangs found the fish in a pool above a beaver dam on his land.
The chub is dependent on natural disturbances in the Willamette Valley,” he says. “That means flooding, and things that occur when you have beaver activity and wetland formation. A lot of these processes have been disrupted through human activities – agriculture, damming rivers, flood prevention. We had to figure out a way to mimic those processes and create habitats that provided those kinds of conditions for the chub.”
So every farmer and rancher who has a beaver dam on their property is helping this chub, and every farmer who doesn’t is hurting them. That seems pretty straight forward to me. How about a tax credit or a reduction in the fishing license fees for everyone who allows beavers on their land? Seems only right…
Today’s donation comes from Jess at AnimalOutlines. Beaver with a purple toothbrush on a mint green background. Hand painted with acrylic paint on a 6″x6″ by 1.5″ deep canvas. These small works of art are signed and ready to hang. Hand made with humor and love. Thanks Jess! I know several dentists in Martinez that should snap these up!
Oh and last night I got a call for a phone interview on KGO about beavers and drought. One day outta the hospital I tried to remember as much as I could about beavers and water and salmonids and why we should care. If you hear something today let me know.
