8009

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8009
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Restoring the Waters.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Boulder, CO.
• Copyright Material: YES

Threats to Pupfish Survival
In the 1960s and 1970s, most of the Ash
Meadows spring-fed streams were diverted
for irrigated agriculture. Ground water
was also pumped for irrigation. Depletion
of the springs and seeps, as well as the
introduction of crayfish, bullfrogs, bass
and tropical fish, caused extinction of the
Ash Meadow Killifish and the Longstreet
Springsnail. The ground water pumping
led to a decline in the
water level in
Devil's Hole, ~ ~ ~ ~ ~,
which ~4, ~,~~~i~c~ f~, 1~,~_~'
threatened
to expose the
hole's critical spawning and feeding rock
shelf and precipitated actions to protect
the hole and its inhabitants.
In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a
permanent injunction issued by the District
Court for the District of Nevada enjoining
any pumping that would lower the water
below a certain level necessary to preserve
the fish. The Court held that in establish-
ing Devil's Hole as a national monument,
the President reserved appurtenant,
unappropriated waters necessary to the
purpose of the reservation, including
preservation of the pool and its fish.
While this action secured the water source
for the national park unit, the remainder
of Ash Meadows' water supply was still
unprotected, and a land development
corporation planned to subdivide the area
into 30,000 residential lots. This new
threat prompted a proposal in 1981 by
California Senator Alan Cranston to
establish a national wildlife refuge to
protect the desert pupfish. While this effort
failed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) emergency-listed as endangered
two more of the fish species of Ash
Meadows - an action that conferred
protection to waters in the area.
Finally, the refuge was established by
Congress in 1984 through cooperative
efforts of The Nature Conservancy (TNC),
the Bureau of Land Management and the
USFWS. TNC, a private conservation
organization, recognized the need to
protect the unique area, purchased 12,613
acres (5106 hectares) and subsequently
sold the lands to the USFWS, which now
manages the area as a wildlife refuge.
Along with the surface acreage, the
Department of the Interior holds rights to
about 16,000 acre-feet of water.
Ongoing Restoration Efforts
Purchase of the land and water rights has
protected Ash Meadows from additional
destructive development. Recovery of the
hydrograph has also led to the reestablish-
ment of some native plant species and
recovery of pupfish populations. But work
remains to be done to restore the area to
pre-pumping condition. With the help of
funds from the Bureau of Rec amation, the
USFWS is dismantling culverts, returning
streams once diverted into concrete
irrigation ditches back to their natural water
courses, removing nonnative plants and
animals that compete with native popula-
tions and planting native vegetation.
For More Information Contact:
David Ledig
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 2660
Pahrump, NV 89041
Phone: [phone]
Superintendent
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley, CA 92328
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
U.S. Supreme Court Holding in
Cappaert v. U.S.
When the United States reserved
Devil's Hole, it acquired by
reservation water rights in unappro-
priated appurtenant water sufficient
to maintain the level of the
underground pool to preserve its
scientific value and thereby
implement the presidential
proclamation establishing Devil's
Hole as a national monument (now
part of a national park).
The proclamation expressed an
intention:
^ To reserve unappropriated water
^ That the United States could
protect its water from subsequent
diversion of surface water or
ground water; and;
^ That determination of reserved
water rights was not governed by
state law.
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