LOS ANGELES – In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed listing the Long Valley Speckled Dace as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The dace is a rare subspecies of minnow that inhabits springs in the eastern Sierra Nevada.
“Protection under the Endangered Species Act will provide a much-needed lifeline to the Long Valley sand dandelion, which survives at only two locations,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservationist at the center. “This is a good first step, but these tough little fish need emergency response and a coordinated recovery effort.”
Native to the Long Valley volcanic caldera and upper Owens River basin in Eastern California, the Long Valley shad is found nowhere else in the world. These tiny fish once lived in springs and streams throughout the upper Owens Basin in Mono County, but now they barely survive in the wild in one spring and along a small stream east of Mammoth Lakes.
The Long Valley hazel is threatened by invasive fish species, water diversions, geothermal energy use, livestock grazing, and climate change and drought that have dried up suitable springs and stream habitat. The Center applied for protection of the Long Valley hazel under the Endangered Species Act in 2020.
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The Long Valley spotted hazel is a subspecies found only in the volcanic caldera of Long Valley east of Mammoth Lakes in Mono County, California.
The Lang Valley hazel is adapted to warm springs and streams. Geothermal energy use and water diversions have reduced or dried up springs throughout the Lang Valley. Excessive groundwater pumping and climate change have contributed to their decline, as the Lang Valley hazel’s spring habitats are fed by aquifers that rely on melting snow for recharge. These hazel have disappeared from suitable habitats, including Hot Creek, Little Alkali Lake, and various isolated springs and ponds.
Only a very small and declining natural population of Long Valley dace remains at Whitmore Hot Springs. They have been relocated to a few locations along O’Harrel Canyon Creek. Several hundred of these fish are also kept in an artificial pond in a managed preserve in Inyo County, outside the species’ historic range.
