2012 Project Summaries

Shoshone Pupfish Pond Construction, CA

Susan Sorrells, a Shoshone resident, has been caring for the Shoshone pupfish living in a small pond on her property for over 30 years. 

​

A collaborative effort over the past 20 years has resulted in bringing a population of 70 fish, captured in 1986, to well over a thousand today. Since those original 70 fish were relocated to a pond in a remote area of Sorrells’ property, she and others have worked to clear out debris and secure and maintain the flow of the spring that feeds it. Last year, Sorrells noted that the water level was becoming dangerously low and the pond “had been compromised.”​

​

But “not a moment too soon,” Sorrells says, funding was awarded for a habitat expansion project through the Desert Fish Habitat Partnership. This resulted in the creation of three new pools as backups to the original refugium. This includes a publicly accessible pool that makes general viewing of the Shoshone pupfish possible for the first time.​

Condor Canyon, CA

This project enhanced ~ 220 acres of the river channel and riparian zone on the San Francisco River through the installation of 3.5 miles of cattle exclosure fencing on the east side of the river and the development of an upland well system. This project is attributed to reducing siltation, trampling of riparian vegetation and excessive nutrient/waste input from cattle, and has improve habitat quality for native fish and other sensitive riparian species.

Ash Meadows Speckled Dace

Shoshone Pupfish Pond Construction, NV

The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) supports the only endemic population of the critically endangered Ash Meadows Amargosa Pupfish and the Ash Meadows Speckled Dace in the world. In an effort to address the direct threats of small population size, genetic isolation, and to improve aquatic habitat conditions the Ash Meadows NWR, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, and numerous other partners are working together to restore natural hydrologic connectivity between the Five Springs complex and downstream habitats.

This project removed nonnative species and restored the natural historic floods that were hindered by a road and fallow field. This restoration has benefited the Ash Meadows Amargosa Pupfish, the Ash Meadows Speckled Dace, and numerous other plant and animal species by improved fish passage and connectivity through the removal of barriers and impoundments, yielding increased genetic exchange for the pupfish, and increasing the available habitat for both the pupfish and the speckled dace.