• International News Archives
• National News Archives
• News Archives by State

Arizona

Arizona

Endangered Fish Rescued from Fire in Arizona

2005

While firefighters work to protect people and homes from Arizona's Cave Creek Complex fire, smaller victims were saved on June 28 as a team of eight biologists rescued about 200 Gila topminnow that were in danger of suffocating from sediment accumulation due to the fire.

Jeff Whitney, a desert fish coordinator for the Service's Southwest region and former regional fire management coordinator, is Incident Commander for one of 16 national incident management teams. Coincidentally, his team was assigned to this incident and he made the decision that the fish rescue be attempted.

Wildlife workers from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service and others hiked four miles near the huge fire to Lime Creek to rescue the fish. The workers used nets to remove the fish from the creek and carried them out in bucket-like containers rigged like backpacks.

The Lime Creek Gila topminnow population is the longest re-established population the fish, as well as one of the largest, making it invaluable to the species' recovery. The fish were taken to a hatchery in Page Springs until Lime Creek is secure and clean enough for their return.

"This was a tremendous opportunity to use the long-term partnership between all these agencies to move an endangered species out of harm's way," said Whitney.

Workers use nets to dip endangered Gila topminnow out of Lime Creek. The
fish were imperiled by the Cave Creek Complex fire in Arizona. (USFWS)

back to headlines

Back to News Archives

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 547 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 50% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 260,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns about 300,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 530 permanent fire professionals, along with 270 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 3,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.