This year marks the 50th anniversary of the federal Endangered Species Act. The landmark conservation law officially lists more than 1,600 animals and plants as threatened or endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sets out plans to recover those species and their habitats.
A native fish called the razorback sucker is on that list. It was once plentiful in the warmer waters of the upper Colorado River basin, but by 1991 had become so scarce it was considered endangered.
The razorback’s recovery partly rests with students at Palisade High School near Grand Junction, Colorado. On May 9, they celebrated the act’s anniversary by releasing about 250 of these fish into the Colorado just out the backdoor of their school.
Palisade High has its own hatchery, where the students raise nearly 300 razorback suckers each year. Science teacher Patrick Steele says the students take the lead. Their daily chores include cleaning three large tanks, feeding the fish, checking water quality, and making sure the facility and the fish are healthy. Every fish is also tagged for tracking once back in the wild.
When the razorback suckers have grown to about a foot long, it’s time to release them. The students inevitably get attached to their charges—and following tradition each fish gets a farewell smooch before being let go into its natural habitat.
In another 50 years, the Endangered Species Act may be celebrated with the successful recovery of this fish, thanks in part to the hard work of these high school students.
This Earth Note was written by Rose Houk and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.
