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Go DeeperMuleshoe Ranch Cooperative Management Area
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Now & Then: Fish Out of Water —
Imperiled Fish Species Find New Home on Historic Ranch
By Jennifer Winger
In the desert Southwest, where streams are scarce and many riparian corridors have been denuded by centuries of overgrazing by cattle, four fish species in the Gila River basin have been fighting an upstream battle for survival. But now the imperiled spikedace minnow, loach minnow, gila topminnow and desert pupfish are getting second homes and a second chance, thanks to The Nature Conservancy and partners.
Although past efforts to reintroduce fish have been troubled by the presence of exotic competitors, drought and the impact of human activities on water quality, biologists believe these species may have more success in perennial water sources on protected land.
“It’s hard to believe, but there are not many places to put fish anymore,” says Tony Robinson, program manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “But we’ve identified some great aquatic habitat that’s going to give these fish a shot.”
Eight hundred spikedace and loach minnows and 2,000 Gila topminnows and desert pupfish have been relocated to Muleshoe Ranch — a 50,000-acre patchwork of public and private land jointly managed by the Conservancy, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Today, the ranch boasts seven permanently flowing streams, but it was not always such an aquatic oasis.
In the mid-1800s, Henry Hooker, known as the “cattle king of Arizona,” homesteaded a tract of land between the Galiuro Mountains and the San Pedro River. The property’s lush shade trees and abundant pools earned it the moniker “Hooker’s Hot Springs,” but when the Conservancy acquired the semidesert grassland nearly a hundred years later, overgrazing and lack of fire had left it in extremely poor condition.
“When we got ahold of Muleshoe, we gave it a rest,” says Ken Wiley, stewardship director for the Conservancy in Arizona. “We got the cattle out, put fire back in, and the riparian areas just exploded — we’ve restored much of the property’s ecological value.”
With grazing pressure gone, fire could revive Muleshoe’s arid landscape. Prescribed burns cleared out invasive shrubs and mesquites and made room for once-rare perennial grasses. Healthy grasslands store rain as groundwater, releasing it slowly. This “sponge effect” means rivers can flow even in the driest months — a boon for fish.
Muleshoe’s aquatic habitat is some of the best in the West, but to get there these fish had to fly — in 55-gallon drums dangling from the belly of a helicopter. Field biologists met the drums at the edge of wilderness areas, transferred the living cargo to 10-gallon buckets and hiked them into remote locations for release.
Scientists will track the fate of the fish for the next five years. But for now, these four federally listed species are once again running wet and wild.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom): Photo © Muleshoe Ranch Archives (Muleshoe Ranch; © Arizona Game & Fish Department (Stream)
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