Fossil Creek Watershed
and Riparian Restoration

Native Fish Restoration

Roundtail Chub

Native Arizona fishes are among the most endangered group of aquatic species in the United States. Twenty of the 35 native species (54%) are listed as either endangered or threatened. Human utilization of land and water resources has dramatically affected streams and rivers in the Southwest, resulting in significant effects to native fishes. Compounding these effects are predatory non-native fish, crayfish and bullfrogs that have decimated or eliminated populations of native fish.

Since the early 1900s, at least 40 species of non-native fish have become established in the Gila River Basin in which Fossil Creek is located. Many of these non-natives were purposefully introduced to increase the diversity of the sport fishery, and some were accidentally released as bait or ornamental fish.  Regardless of the mode of arrival, non-native fishes have had a detrimental affect on native aquatic species. The introduction and proliferation of non-native aquatic species, especially fish, is increasingly viewed as one of the most serious long-term threats to the recovery of native species, equaled in severity only by the effect of habitat destruction.

The introduced fish species that proliferate in the Verde River and threaten Fossil Creek evolved in the Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage systems, but are not native to the Colorado, Gila, or other western river basins. Non-native fish that have invaded Fossil Creek include the green sunfish, smallmouth bass,, flathead catfish, and yellow bullhead.

The Bureau of Reclamation, the Forest Service (Coconino and Tonto National Forests), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department partnered to complete a project to restore native fishes to Fossil Creek. Field work on the Fossil Creek Native Fish Restoration Project began in the fall of 2004. Work was completed in November 2004.  Monitoring will continue for  to determine if restoration goals for the project were met.

For more information about native fish in Arizona, go to the Native Fish Lab at ASU.

For additional information regarding the native fish restoration project, see the information below as well as the Research and Photos sections of this website.

View Fossil Creek Restoration: An Ecological Experiment (from Econotes, Volume 1, a publication of the Stream Ecology and Restoration Group at Northern Arizona University)
Word document (2.17 MB)
PDF (194 KB)

View the Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact (U.S. Forest Service, Coconino and Tonto National Forests, June 8, 2004)
Word document (112 KB)
PDF (106 KB)

Link to the Forest Service webpage to download the Draft Environmental Assessment (December 2003) (3.7 MB): http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/nepa/index.shtml

 
 

Speckled Dace

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