7775

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7775
• Author: Carlson, C. A. and R. T. Muth.
• Title: Inland Fisheries Management in North America, Chapter 15
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: Endangered Species Management.
• Copyright Material: YES

368

CHAPTER 15

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Figure 15.2 Biologists touring the Devil's Hole pool, home of the Devils Hole pupfish,
(Photograph courtesy of J. Hawkins.)

but none of these efforts met with success. Since it was apparent that only
maintenance of groundwater levels would protect the Devils Hole pupfish and
other Ash Meadows fishes, legal action to prohibit removal of groundwater in the
area was initiated. In July 1972, before the ESA was passed, the people of the
United States, through the Department of Justice, sued the land developer and the
state of Nevada as codefendants on a point of water law (Pister 1979). A District
Court issued a temporary injunction to prohibit pumping in April 1973. The
injunction was made permanent by a unanimous ruling of the Supreme Court in
June 1976. Since land ownership and land-use control best assure habitat
integrity, attempts were then made to buy Ash Meadows. After the Fish and
Wildlife Service (supported by the Nevada Department of Wildlife) tried and
failed, the land was bought by a real estate developer, who started a housing
development. In 1984, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established
(Deacon and Williams 1991). Fish Slough (Inyo and Mono counties, California),