Over 100 fish are on the federal list of threatened and endangered species, but on Sept. 4, the first American sportfish regained enough numbers to be delisted.
According to High Country News, the Apache trout bounced back to 30 separate populations in the White Mountains in Arizona. That was enough to satisfy "the agency's recovery plan" to be removed from the endangered species list.
The fish regained their populations because of the work of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, nonprofits, and federal and state agencies. While it was the work of all these groups, the White Mountain Apache Tribe did a great deal of the work.
In the 1940s, the Apache trout only lived in 12 streams located on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. In 1955, the tribe made a radical move to close the streams for sport fishing. The Endangered Species Act did not protect the fish until it was passed in 1967, and Apache trout were classified as threatened eight years later.
The work picked up to save the Apache fish in the 1980s. According to High Country News, "Land managers closed forest roads, improved logging management, and fenced cattle out of streams to ease pressure on the fish's habitat." Additionally, Apache trout were bred in captivity before returning to their habitat. All of these efforts helped slowly grow the population.
While the Apache trout has recovered, it is nowhere near the population it had before. It covers less than a third of the 700 miles of stream it once inhabited. And while it's no longer listed as threatened, the fish are imperiled by droughts and wildfires, which isn't suitable for a fish that relies on cold streams, so the work is long from over.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated that the Endangered Species Act is essential for conserving "endangered and threatened species and their ecosystems."
Gray wolves being eradicated from Yellowstone National Park is a great example of how losing a species can affect the ecosystem. Per National Geographic, the elk overgrazed when the wolves were gone because their main predator was the gray wolf.
The rabbit and mouse populations dropped because they no longer had anywhere to hide from predators. Grizzly bears lost their berries, a source of food before hibernation, and hummingbirds and bees had fewer flowers.
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Losing one animal can have a detrimental effect, so conservation efforts are crucial. You can help by donating to climate causes that do this work.
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