Utah has 17 wildlife species on the federal endangered list; nine are endangered, eight are threatened.
To be listed as endangered, a species has to be at serious risk of extinction in a specific area or throughout its natural habitat.
A threatened species is one that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the gatekeeper of the list.
Since 2001, the DWR said it and other partners have kept 20 wildlife species from making these lists through conservation efforts.
Four of those listed species are found in the Colorado and San Juan river basins: the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker and bonytail.
The Colorado pikeminnow is the largest minnow in North America. It was first listed as endangered in 1967 and was given full protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1973.
The humpback chub was listed as endangered in 1973 after large dams and human water use changed the river flow. It was downlisted from endangered to threatened in 2021.
The razorback sucker was listed after changes in historic river flows and the introduction of nonnative predator fish caused a large population decline for the fish. It was listed on the Endangered Species list in 1991.
The bonytail is the rarest of the endangered, native fish of the Colorado River. It was listed as endangered in 1980.
These four fish species are only found in these river basins.
DWR Recovery Programs Director Sarah Seeger said, “They are part of Utah’s natural heritage, and the DWR is committed to preserving that heritage.”
She said, to protect these species, we also have to protect the rivers where they live. Programs like the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program established in 1988 and the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program established in 1992 help with preservation efforts.