Number range CHAPTER

![](media/image1.png){width="0.75in" height="0.75in"}
![](media/image2.png){width="0.7076388888888889in" height="0.75in"}

**Southwest Region (Arizona ● New Mexico ● Oklahoma ●Texas)
[http://southwest.fws.gov](http://southwest.fws.gov/)**

**For Release:** October 7, 2004

**Contacts:** Elizabeth Slown, (505) 248-6909, Jerry Brabander (918)
581-7458 x224 or Ken Collins (918) 581-7458 x230

# U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE PROPOSES DESIGNATION

**OF CRITICAL HABITAT FOR THE** **ARKANSAS RIVER SHINER**

Responding to a decision by the United States Court for the District of
New Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed
designating 1,244 river miles as critical habitat for the threatened
Arkansas River shiner -- including 300 feet of adjacent riparian areas
measured outward from each bank. The areas determined to be essential to
the conservation of the Arkansas River Shiner include portions of the
Canadian River in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, the Beaver/North
Canadian River of Oklahoma, the Cimarron River in Kansas and Oklahoma,
and the Arkansas River in Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

In developing this proposal, the Service considered whether any specific
areas would be appropriate for exclusion from the final critical habitat
designation for the small fish.

Based on this analysis, the Service is proposing excluding the
Beaver/North Canadian River in Oklahoma and the Arkansas River in
Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, from the final critical habitat for the
Arkansas River Shiner. Under the Endangered Species Act, areas can be
excluded from a critical habitat designation when the benefits of
exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion.

In order to increase and reestablish Arkansas River Shiner populations
in the Beaver/North Canadian River and the Arkansas River, the Service
hopes to establish what is known as "non-essential experimental
populations." As defined under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species
Act, an experimental population encourages local cooperation by allowing
more management flexibility than the Act generally allows. For example,
certain prohibitions against harming, harassing or capturing a
threatened or endangered species may no longer apply. And the Act
provides that critical habitat should not be designated for areas with
non-essential experimental populations.

"The Service strongly believes that to recover the Arkansas River
Shiner, it needs the added flexibility provided by establishing an
experimental population," said Jerry Brabander, supervisor of the
Service\'s Ecological Services Office in Oklahoma. "And this flexibility
would be of little value if a designation of critical habitat overlaps
the experimental population. The reason is that Federal agencies would
still be required to consult with us on any actions that may adversely
modify critical habitat. Congress recognized that the flexibility gained
from section 10(j) would be rendered useless by the designation of
critical habitat.

"By definition, the designation of critical habitat is limited in its
impact," Brabander added. \"As a threatened species, the Arkansas River
shiner is already protected wherever it occurs within the Arkansas River
Drainage Basin."

The critical habitat designation will contribute to the species
conservation by helping Federal agencies determine when they must
consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service before taking a proposed
action that might adversely modify critical habitat.

The Service does not expect the designation to have a substantial
economic impact on the region or on private landowners. Relatively few
projects have ever been stopped or significantly altered as a result of
critical habitat consultations.

Critical habitat is a term in the Endangered Species Act. It identifies
geographic areas that contain features essential for the conservation of
a threatened or endangered species and may require special management
considerations. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land
ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other
conservation area. It does not allow government or public access to
private lands.

This critical habitat proposal was completed in response to a lawsuit
filed by the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and 16 other
plaintiffs.

In 30 years of implementing the Endangered Species Act, the Service has
found that the designation of critical habitat provides little
additional protection to most listed species, while preventing the
Service from using scarce conservation resources for activities with
greater conservation benefits.

In almost all cases, recovery of listed species will come through
voluntary cooperative partnerships, not regulatory measures such as
critical habitat. Habitat is also protected through cooperative measures
under the Endangered Species Act including Habitat Conservation Plans,
Safe Harbor Agreements, Candidate Conservation Agreements and state
programs. In addition, voluntary partnership programs such as the
Service's Private Stewardship Grants and Partners for Fish and Wildlife
program also restore habitat. Habitat for endangered species is provided
on many national wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and state wildlife management areas.

The Service is currently soliciting information and comments from the
public on all aspects of this proposal, including data on economic and
other impacts of the designation. Three public hearings are planned, one
in the Texas Panhandle, one in southwest Kansas, and one in Central
Oklahoma. The locations, dates and times for the hearings for this
proposal will be announced in the Federal Register and local newspapers
at least 15 days prior to the first hearing. A Final Rule is due by
September 30, 2005.

The Arkansas River Basin population of the Arkansas River shiner was
listed as threatened under the ESA in 1998. An introduced, non-native
population of Arkansas River shiners, which became established in the
Pecos River of New Mexico in 1978, is not affected by this designation.
The Arkansas River shiner is a small (maximum length of two inches),
silver colored minnow with a small, dorsally flattened head and a
rounded snout. The shiner once inhabited wide, sandy-bottomed rivers and
streams throughout the Arkansas River Basin in Kansas, New Mexico,
Oklahoma and Texas. Today, the fish is found primarily throughout the
Canadian/South Canadian River in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. A small
population still persists in the Cimarron River, based on the recent
collection of eight individuals in 2004. Threats to the shiner include
habitat loss from construction of water impoundments, reduction of
stream flows caused by diversion of surface water or groundwater
withdrawals, water quality degradation, and possible inadvertent
collection by the commercial bait fish industry. The Red River shiner,
an introduced species, also threatens the Arkansas River shiner when
introduced into its habitat.

Service biologists hope to soon begin drafting a recovery plan for the
species, which will then be available for public review and comment.
\"We hope to involve as many stakeholders as possible in the development
of this plan,\" said Brabander. \"Water conservation efforts, including
management of invasive aquatic plant species, likely will be an
important component of the plan".

The Service published the proposed rule in today\'s *Federal Register*
and it is available on the Service's website at
<http://ifw2es.fws.gov/Oklahoma/shiner.htm>. Copies also can be
requested by calling (918) 581-7458 x224 or writing to Field Supervisor,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 222 South Houston, Suite A, Tulsa,
Oklahoma 74127. Comments on the proposed rule should be submitted to the
above address by April 30, 2005.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and
plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of
small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69
national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological
services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws,
administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird
populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and
restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native
American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also
oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of
millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to
State fish and wildlife agencies.

\<http://southwest.fws.gov\>