TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider anew whether a type of minnow that lives in the lower Colorado River’s watershed should receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The ruling Wednesday by District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps overturned the agency’s 2017 withdrawal of a rule proposed in 2015 to designate the lower Colorado River basin roundtail chub as a threatened species.
The minnow is found in Arizona and a small part of New Mexico in drainage basins of the Bill Williams, Gila, Little Colorado, Salt and Verde rivers.
In withdrawing the proposed rule, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it could not list the minnow because it was not distinct from two other threatened chub species,.
However, Zipps said the agency improperly failed to consider whether the roundtail club population “remained discrete, significant, and in danger of extinction …”
The Center for Biological Diversity says the minnow faces threats from habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change. The conservation advocacy group had sued to challenge the 2017 withdrawal, contending that the federal agency acted improperly.
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