Fish and Wildlife Service Publishes Final Recovery Plan for Colorado Pikeminnow

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

News Release

 

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Mountain-Prairie Region

Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming

134 Union Blvd., Lakewood, Colorado 80228

For Immediate Release

September 29, 2023

Contact: Adriana Zorrilla, Public Affairs Specialist, Adriana_zorrilla@fws.gov, (720) 662-6875

DENVER — Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is announcing the availability of the Final Recovery Plan for the Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius). This Final Recovery Plan is a revision of the previous 2002 Recovery Plan and is based on the best available scientific information. 

Recovery Plans are non-regulatory documents that act as a guidebook towards a shared goal of ensuring a specie’s long-term survival in the wild. The Final Recovery Plan outlines site-specific management actions that contribute to the recovery of the species, describe the time and cost estimates for implementing those actions, and outline objective and measurable criteria for downlisting and delisting. The completion of the recovery actions outlined in the recovery plan will contribute to the recovery of the Colorado pikeminnow.   

  

The Colorado pikeminnow historically occurred throughout the warm water reaches of the Colorado River basin of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The Colorado pikeminnow was included in the 1967 List of Endangered Species and the original 1973 Endangered Species Act. Recovery programs in the Green and Upper Colorado subbasins and the San Juan River subbasin were established to monitor and enhance populations. As a result of river fragmentation, development, and hydrological modifications, the Colorado pikeminnow is currently found in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It is no longer found in Arizona, California, Nevada, or Wyoming. 

 

Primary threats to the Colorado pikeminnow include barriers to movement due to dams and diversions, entrainment into irrigation canals, altered river temperatures, climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change , water storage and flow management, predation from invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.

Learn more about invasive species , and water contamination. In addition, because Colorado pikeminnow often migrate to specific spawning sites and occupy various habitat types based on their developmental stage and needs, the species requires connected river habitats to support its recovery. 

 

Completion of the recovery actions outlined in the recovery plan will help the Colorado pikeminnow move closer to recovery.  The recovery criteria recommend population sizes, distribution, and reproduction numbers to meet recovery criteria and ensure sufficient genetic, behavioral, and ecological diversity across the Colorado pikeminnow’s historical range.  

 

The Service in cooperation with Upper Colorado and San Juan River Recovery Program partners, has also prepared a Recovery Implementation Strategy (RIS). The RIS serves as an operational plan for completing the higher-level recovery actions presented in the Recovery Plan by achieving specific tasks or activities. The Final Recovery Plan and RIS are available on the species’ profile page: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/3531 

 

For more information about Colorado and San Juan Rivers program partners, visit: https://coloradoriverrecovery.org/information/program-partners/ 

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information, visit www.fws.gov, or connect with us through any of these social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. 

– FWS –