Feds List Devils River Minnow,
Call It "Threatened" Species

(Editor's note: A previous proposal to list the Devils River minnow under the Endangered Species Act was defeated by an aroused citizenry almost two decades ago. Like the Terminator and Freddy Krueger, however, bureaucratic schemes never really die; they hibernate in the manner of anthrax spores, to arise and infest the same ground over and over again. It's BAAACK.)

AUSTIN —(AP)— The Devils River minnow, a two-inch fish that once thrived in creeks around Del Rio, was listed as a "threatened" species last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A "threatened" listing under the Endangered Species Act occurs when a species is considered likely to become "endangered" in the foreseeable future.

The minnow is a native species of the clear, spring-fed streams of Val Verde and Kinney counties in Texas, about 100 miles west of San Antonio.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the minnow once ranged from the Devils River near Juno to Las Moras Creek in Brackettville and into northern Mexico.

Currently, biologists have found the minnow in only three locations in Texas, one in San Felipe Creek in Del Rio and two in small creeks feeding the Devils River. In Mexico, the fish is known to exist only in one location in the Rio Salado drainage in Coahuila, the federal agency said.

The minnow is alleged to be threatened by declines in water quality and quantity, and by non-native fish introduced into its habitat, including smallmouth bass that prey on the minnow.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, habitat destruction caused by the construction of the Amistad Reservoir eliminated the fish from the lower Devils River.

The species was eliminated from Las Moras Creek when the springs feeding the creek were modified to construct and maintain a swimming pool.

The minnow, which already is recognized by the state of Texas as a threatened species, was proposed for listing as an endangered species in March 1998.

After public comments and a conservation agreement with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the city of Del Rio in September 1998, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to list the fish as threatened rather than endangered.

The agreement provides for the state and city to undertake conservation actions, including protection of the San Felipe Creek watershed, technical assistance to landowners, review of live bait harvest and selling practices in the Devils River area and additional population and habitat monitoring.

Also Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service listed as a threatened species the Pecos sunflower, a rare wetland plant found in West Texas and New Mexico. In Texas, it is found near Fort Stockton and Balmorhea.

The major threat to the plant is the continued loss of wetland habitat, the service said.