Arkansas River shiner no longer in river
U.S. Fish and Wildlife proposes removing Kansas waterway
from critical habitat list
The endangered Arkansas River shiner, a small minnow-like
fish, is so rare that it no longer appears in the river it's named for.
Extensive surveys of the river by the Kansas Department of
Wildlife and Parks and university research teams have failed to produce any
evidence of the fish in the Arkansas River or the Beaver/North Canadian rivers
in Oklahoma, said Jerry Brabander, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in Tulsa, Okla.
Gone from more than 85 percent of its natural habitat, the
Arkansas River shiner - listed as threatened on the federal endangered species
list - is now only found in small stretches of the Cimarron River in Kansas and
in the Canadian River in Oklahoma.
"Originally it was one of the most abundant river
species," Brabander said, "but it's been in decline because of a lot of
factors, things like major impoundments, reservoirs that slow down the flow of
water, the amount of water withdrawn from the river, the encroachment of salt
cedars and competition from other species."
Protecting the shiner, Brabander said, means protecting
the fish's critical habitat. Under the Endangered Species Act, that could mean
restricting some land use in the river's riparian zone - 300 feet of land on
each side of the river.
In an attempt to designate habitat in 2001, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service recommended listing the Arkansas River east of Great Bend
and the Cimarron River east of Kismet as critical habitat.
But because of heated opposition against the habitat plan
and a ruling by a U.S. District Court in New Mexico, the Fish and Wildlife
service now is proposing to take the Arkansas River off of the fish's critical
habitat list - meaning no new restrictions for landowners along the river.
"We are absolutely pleased by that," said Steve Swaffar,
natural resources director for the Kansas Farm Bureau, a group that opposed
listing Arkansas River as habitat for the shiner.
| 'Our whole goal is to bring the
population back to a stable level.'
- Jerry Brabander, field supervisor for the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Tulsa, Okla. |
"We have contended all along that the river should not be
considered habitat," Swaffar said. "The Arkansas River did not harbor the fish
species, and we think the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has finally seen that
and realized it can't be labeled as habitat."
Before the Arkansas River can be excluded from a critical
habitat listing, however, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must host three
public hearings to discuss the proposal.
Times and dates for the meetings have not been set,
Brabander said, and they will be scheduled after an economic analysis of the
decision is prepared.
Even if some rivers are removed from the critical habitat
listing, the shiner could return to the Arkansas River someday, Brabander said.
If populations in Oklahoma rivers become stable, experimental populations could
be re-established in Kansas. That, however, could be difficult to do.
"It's not been attempted before," Brabander said. "But we
have been able to propagate them before in captivity."
Swaffar said creating experimental populations in the
Arkansas River wouldn't cause landowners harm, either. Federal regulations do
not provide the same level of protection for introduced populations as they do
for those that occur naturally.
Ultimately, said Brabander and Swaffar, the availability
of water in the Arkansas River could determine the shiner's return. To have a
long-term viable population, the shiner needs 135 miles of free-flowing stream
in which to reproduce.
"Our whole goal is to bring the population back to a
stable level," Brabander said. "In order to do that, we believe that if we
could establish viable populations in two streams in addition to the south
Canadian and Cimarron rivers, we'd bring them back to a stable
level."