Endangered Topeka shiners will be reintroduced in northern Missouri in a partnership among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Missouri Department of Conservation and The Nature Conservancy. The Service published a final rule in the Federal Register on July 17, 2013, which paves the way for the reintroduction. Work is expected to begin this summer.
The reintroduction is part of an effort to restore populations of the small fish in Missouri in areas where the Topeka shiner once lived before its numbers declined. The reintroductions would be carried out on lands managed by Missouri Department of Conservation and The Nature Conservancy.
The reintroduction will establish “non-essential, experimental” populations of Topeka shiners in Adair, Gentry, Harrison, Putnam, Sullivan and Worth counties in northern Missouri. This designation, under the federal Endangered Species Act, gives wildlife managers more flexibility in working with the reintroduced Topeka shiners and provides nearby private landowners with reassurance that the presence of a protected species will not affect their activities.
Within the nonessential experimental populations, take (killing, harming, harassing) of Topeka shiners that is incidental to otherwise legal activities, such as farming, forestry and wildlife management, land development and recreation, is allowed.
