Water needs of NM minnow not met, environmentalists say

The federal agencies overseeing the Rio Grande have repeatedly failed to meet their legal requirement to ensure river flows and habitat for the Rio Grande silvery minnow, the environmental group WildEarth Guardians claimed in legal notices filed this week. The “notices of intent” allege violations of the federal Endangered Species Act and start a 60-day clock ticking toward possible litigation. The notices highlight growing tensions between human water use and the Rio Grande’s natural ecosystem in what is shaping up to be the fourth consecutive year of drought, and set the stage for potentially bruising litigation this summer. Human water diversions have left the Rio Grande ecosystem with too little water to maintain the minnow and other species that depend on the river’s flow, including the valley’s iconic cottonwoods, said Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program coordinator for WildEarth Guardians.  A plan developed in 2003, after similar litigation, required habitat restoration and water management operations that mimicked the river’s natural flow, including a spring spawning peak for the fish. WildEarth Guardians alleges the river’s managers have failed to carry out those plans...more

  A fish and a tree are more important than farmers and other users of river water.