7031 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

58 GREAT BASIN NATURALIST MEMOIRS 197 TABLE 5. Described taxa of threatened freshwater fishes of western Nort;l America: 1979. Presen t . Historical Common name Scien tific name Status threat distribution Trouts, family Salmonidae Little Kern golden trout Salmo aquabonita whitei T 1,4 CA Jordan Arizona trout Salmo apache Miller 1972 T 1,4 AZ Lahontan cutthroat trout Salmo clarki henshawi Gill T 1,4 CA,NV,UT,WA and Jordan Colorado River cutthroat Salmo clarki pleuriticus SC 1,4 CO,UT,WY trou t Cope Paiute cutthroat trout Salmo clarki seleniris Snyder T 1 CA Greenback cutthroat Salmo clarki stomill8 Cope T 1,4 CO trout Utah cutthroat trout Salmo clarki utah Suckley T 1,4 UT,WY,NV Rio Grande cutthroat Salmo clarki virginalis SC 1,4 CO,NM trout (Girard) Gila trout Salmo gilae Miller T 1 NM,AZ Sunapee trout Salvelinus alpinus aureolus T 4 ME,NH,ID Bean r' Montana Arctic grayling Thymalllls arcticus T MT (stream form) I1wntanlls (Pallas) Mudminnows, family Umbridae Olympic mudminnow Novllmbra hllbbsi Schultz SC WA is clearly one serious and unacceptable con- sequence, but it is completely overshadowed by the rapid diminution of the world's ability to support the biotic diversity so essential to man's physical and mental well-being. During this symposium Lovejoy (1979) has provided a frightening description of the aw- ful magnitude of the problem. Clements (1979) has clearly shown that it is our own so- ciety, not societies in the under-developed countries of the tropics, that must be held primarily responsible for such all-pervasive, worldwide environmental degradation. Per- haps an understanding of these important facts will hasten the hard decisions which must be made to apply the principles of the E~dangered Species Act on a worldwide scale. Spencer (1979) provided extensive documentation to show that the very difficult and costly decisions essential to slowing the rate of environmental degradation in the United States are being made in some specif- ic cases. His presentation is perhaps the most encouraging evidence presented at the sym- posium to indicate that there are forces at work in our society which have a slim possi- bility of forcing the significant shifts in so- cietal values which Clements (1979) de- scribed as essential if we are to prevent the collapse of our system. No.3 The answers to "Why save species?" are many-faceted, almost always translate into "Why save ecosystems?" and clearly demand searching examination of human values. It seems particularly powerful, therefore, to find philosophers, theologians, and ecologists converging on essentially the same answers to these questions. Though ecologists tend to understandably emphasize species and eco- systems and theologians tend to emphasize individuals and anthropocentricity, pretty much the same conclusions emerge. The most succinct and, to the Christian world, prob- ably the most widely understandable con- clusion we can arrive at was expressed by Professor Hugh Nibley. In a 1978 essay exam- ining man's relationship with his environ- ment he said, "Man's dominion is a call to service, not a license to exterminate." Min ~ c I: A F It J\< rI c L C T ACKNOWLEDGMENTS H B Numerous people have assisted in the de- velopment of data and ideas presented here- in. To all I express sincere gratitude. James D. Williams, Gail Kobetich, Thom Hardy, and the American Fisheries Society Endan- gered Species Committee were instrumental in development of Tables 5 and 6. Jerry c c Y C P v C L v v B L S ~ y 11 F B \I S C F