Relocation of Endangered Fish Spurs Recovery in Grand Canyon [Slide Show]
Against long odds, a milestone is reached in the efforts to improve the humpback chub's chances of survival
Relocation of Endangered Fish Spurs Recovery in Grand Canyon [Slide Show]
- NATIVE INTERESTS: A Havasupai Ranger (left) helps Brian Healy, Fisheries Program manager for Grand Canyon National Park, release translocated chub near the base of Beaver Falls in Havasu Creek. As part of its plan to conserve native fish, the National Park Service consults with 11 Native American tribes who have cultural ties to the Grand Canyon...
- LITTLE COLORADO: Some Hopi clans believe the Little Colorado River is the location where their ancestors emerged into the current world. The turquoise-blue tributary hosts the world's largest remaining population of humpback chub and is also an important source of sediment for replenishing the Grand Canyon's diminishing beaches. ...
- UNTAGGED JUVENILE: Young humpback chub are silver, have small eyes and large fins, and have not yet developed the namesake hump. This is one of two juveniles found in May that did not have an identification tag, providing the first evidence that translocated chub may be reproducing in Havasu Creek. ...
- HOOPLA: After baiting and anchoring one large hoop net and two smaller minnow traps at each station for 24 hours, crew members retrieve them, hoping to find native fish inside. Normally crystal clear, Shinumo Creek was running a vivid red color in September due to the large amounts of sediment carried during record-setting rains...
- CONCRETE WEDGE: Looming 216 meters tall, massive Glen Canyon Dam impounds Lake Powell, the U.S.'s second-largest reservoir. The dam was completed in 1963 to sustain the lower Colorado River Basin in times of drought, to generate electricity and to tame the river's unruly flows, which could vary 600 percent from one year to the next. ...