phoenix – tourism continues to expand in arizona, a boon for jobs, development and tax revenue, but the growth presents challenges to preserving the natural beauty drawing visitors to the state.

“it just really appears that there is a problem as far as people management,” said alicyn gitlin of the sierra club. “but it’s a fine line because you want people to have access to this place that belongs to all of us.”

the tensions between economic driver and environmental impact are revealed in the numbers of dollars and people, both of which reach into the millions. tourists generate jobs and tax revenue, some of which is spent on advertising to lure even more tourists and build the roads and other infrastructure needed to accommodate them. selfie culture and social media increases such strains as littering and overuse on the most picturesque sites, and visitors forego the excitement of exploring the unfamiliar in favor of social media likes.

in 2018, for the first time in arizona history, more than 45 million tourists generated more than $1 billion in state tax revenue, surpassing the record set the previous year by 8%, according to the arizona office of tourism. these visitors help support about 200,000 jobs and provide $7.4 billion in earnings for arizona workers.

flagstaff is one of the primary destinations for visitors, enticing tourists with its craft beer scene, connection to lunar missions, route 66 nostalgia, proximity to lowell observatory and, above all, its status as a portal to arizona’s natural splendors. the city’s proximity to the grand canyon, the nation’s largest ponderosa pine forest and the red rocks of sedona is a large part of why visitors from across the globe spend more than $500 million each year in flagstaff, according to a 2017-18 tourism study from the arizona office of tourism.

debbie johnson, director of the arizona office of tourism, said tourism spending in arizona reduces each resident’s tax burden by more than $1,300 per year.

“tourism revenue is a big chunk of their government provided services,” johnson said. to maintain their same level of service for residents “in coconino county, it would be $3,000 more a household.”

in flagstaff, 5 million annual visitors provide 8,000 jobs, said meg roederer, spokeswoman for discover flagstaff, the city’s tourism agency. and much of the money collected from the bed, board and beverage tax that tourists pay is spent developing infrastructure to help absorb the increased traffic.

“if you’re dining in our restaurants, if you’re staying in our hotels, you are going to be contributing to our economy,” roederer said. “our parks and recreation department gets a portion of it, public art … and arts and sciences education programming for students.”

some of the money also goes back into the city’s visitor center, tour guides and media operation roederer said.

where’s that tree i saw on instagram?

gitlin, conservation coordinator for the sierra club grand canyon chapter, worries the promotion of natural wonders in arizona could threaten the picturesque wilderness tourists are clambering to see for themselves.

“people are seeing more photos online and they are going to specific locations instead of wandering and distributing themselves around,” gitlin said. “there are a few sites that tend to get a lot of impact.”

gitlin was hesitant to give examples, lest the publicity attract further traffic to the sites, but she did mention end of the world, a popular campsite in coconino national forest. the often promoted site sits at the end of a 29-mile road, which gitlin warns makes proper safety and etiquette even more of a priority.

people crave the experience being sold to them through marketing and advertising, she said. when everyone gravitates to the same locations, the heavy foot traffic may trample the local flora or lead to increased litter.

the power of marketing can pressure local infrastructure beyond its capabilities.

“flagstaff started marketing itself as … arizona’s winter wonderland,” gitlin said. “and all of a sudden, all of these people came up and they wanted to play in the snow. there’s really not a lot of infrastructure to direct people to places where they can safely play in the snow. and so what they end up doing is crowding the highways, crowding the roads, and participating in unsafe activities.”

for gitlin, this advertising problem isn’t limited to tourism boards. the rise of selfie culture and social media plays a huge part in tourists flocking to iconic wilderness sites.

“i’ve heard of hiking guides who have said their clients come in, and they’re like, ‘where’s the tree?’” she said. “you know, the tree that everybody’s got the picture of on instagram?”

some people have noticed this problem and have creatively utilized social media to address it.

“a lot of people i know have recently started using ‘#somewhere,’” gitlin said. “which is, i think, a really nice way of inspiring people to go out and explore on their own.”

she noted that the plugged-in culture can also negate the whole point of visiting these spots for tourists, too.

“that’s not why you’re here – to get to get that one picture,” she said. “people need to visit these areas and be able to turn off their electronics and be in nature. i mean, there’s so many health effects that are being shown from being in places where you’re surrounded by natural landscapes.”

leave no trace

with the museum fire currently burning more than 1,800 acres in the dry lake hills area north of flagstaff and limiting access to many sites in the coconino national forest, gitlin said overcrowded areas are an even greater problem.

still, many of the strains tourists put on nature can be mitigated through education.

“it’s a tricky question, because you want to get people into nature. you want them to learn to love it,” gitlin said. “but you also want them to love it in a way that’s going to leave it better than when they came.”

she wants to see schools teaching respect for nature at an early age; she is even more eager to see adults practice good stewardship.

simple things like sticking to paths, “picking up your trash, taking time to look at the stars, instead of having to have a campfire every time you’re outside,” would go a long way, she said.

“if you do have a campfire, make sure that you have ample water and a shovel on you that you’re able to put it out,” she added. “put your hand on it and make sure that it’s cool to the touch before you leave it, not leaving it burning overnight.”

discover flagstaff is aware of the potential problems with increased tourism and seeks to be proactive, promoting “eco-tourism,” a sustainable approach to visitation.

“as far as preservation of our area and responsible tourism, we do market a ‘stay and play responsibly’ messaging for our visitors,” roederer said. “if you pack it in, you pack it out, you leave no trace.”

discover flagstaff’s website touts many of the city’s environmental accolades, from its water-saving practices to its designation as the u.s. city with the cleanest air by the american lung association. flagstaff is also the first international dark sky city, a recognition of its efforts to curb light pollution. the website also maintains a list of eco-friendly attractions, hotels and restaurants.

discover the new, preserve the old

gitlin said government involvement has led to some positive changes in northern arizona. she cites the rearrangement of the south rim of the grand canyon from a frustrating parking lot into its current configuration as one such success.

“grand canyon created a different system where they built a visitor center that was back off the rim,” gitlin said. “people had to get out of their cars and walk through a plaza and walk by some beautiful monuments and landscape areas.”

this allowed the flow of tourists to be better directed, offsetting problems with overcrowding. it also had other benefits.

“i see people slowing down, taking their time, they’re in a better mood. they’re looking around, they’re enjoying themselves,” gitlin said. “that is a really good success story. because it’s an example of where, instead of trying to promote convenience and failing on it, they went a totally different route and promoted an experience.”

businesses like those on discover flagstaff’s website also play an important role in educating visitors. hotels touting their eco-friendly water practices remind customers to pay attention to their consumption habits, while outdoor companies teach consumers to be good stewards of the land, gitlin said.

improving business, personal practices

still, more could be done.

gitlin wants to see bike companies teach trail etiquette, including staying on trails, to their customers. she also said companies could work sustainability into their business models.

“i would love to see someone start a business in flagstaff, that rent out sleds, and you get a deposit back when you return it because we have a huge issue is broken plastic slides all over the forest,” gitlin said.

otherwise, gitlin wants tourists to use the information available to protect the natural beauty that attracts them, especially if it means putting an end to her biggest pet-peeve.

“throwing their orange peels down,” gitlin said. “it drives me nuts.”

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this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal. follow them on twitter.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. 

washington – democratic lawmakers beat back a series of republican amendments wednesday before advancing bills to restrict mining around the grand canyon and on tribal lands in arizona and new mexico.

in a sometimes emotional meeting, the house natural resources committee gave preliminary approval to bills banning mining on 1 million acres around the grand canyon, taking uranium off the list of “critical minerals” and setting a 10-mile mining buffer around chaco canyon.

the approval came after three hours of attempted amendments by republicans, who said the bills in their current form are doomed in the senate.

“the three bills we are marking up today are going nowhere,” rep. rob bishop, r-utah, said at the opening of the hearing. “they’re not going to be considered in the senate. they’re not going to be signed by the president. we are simply spinning our wheels once again.”

republicans said the mining bills will hurt the local economy while standing in the way of national and economic security for the u.s. as a whole.

but rep. deb haaland, d-new mexico, pointed to the cultural and sacred sites that would be protected by the bills, noting that tourism and outdoor recreation offer greater economic potential for the region than mining would.

“grand canyon national park was responsible for $667 million in consumer spending around the park and supports over 7,000 local jobs,” she said during the hearing, adding that a bureau of land management report found that mining would only support about 295 jobs in the region.

more importantly, haaland said, the measures will protect the health of area residents after decades of mining on the navajo nation left a “toxic burden” that shows up in higher risks of cancer.

“we cannot allow people to suffer from these preventable impacts simply to do the bidding of the mining industry,” she said in a statement released wednesday.

the bills passed out of committee on mostly party-line votes, that followed mostly party-line rejections of 14 amendments, the majority of which were proposed by rep. paul gosar, r-prescott.

gosar argued that the bill prohibiting mining on federal land around the grand canyon alone would mean the loss of up to 4,000 potential jobs and billions of dollars worth of economic activity and tax revenues for the region.

“it’s copper, it’s mining, it’s where you get true wealth to come from,” gosar said.

the uranium bill would reverse a trump administration plan that put it on a list of non-fuel minerals that are critical to the nation’s economy and defense, and could be threatened if imports from other countries were cut off.

president donald trump ordered the departments of interior and defense to develop the list in 2017, and the commerce department last month released a plan for ensuring a reliable supply of the 35 minerals on the list.

gosar at one point offered an amendment to rename the bill the “enhancing soviet and chinese dominance act,” arguing that not having a ready stockpile of uranium runs the risk of making america dependent on potential adversaries.

“making ourselves completely reliant on other countries like russia, china … is exactly why this bill should be changed directly,” gosar said.

but democrats argued that uranium has no place on the list of “non-fuel” minerals the president ordered up and that there are decades of uranium stockpiles available for military needs.

rep. tom o’halleran, d-sedona, said in a statement after the vote that uranium mining “throughout northern arizona has impacted the health and wellbeing of families across the region, and communities are still grappling with the legacy of this activity decades later.”

“we cannot allow these precious lands to be turned over to mining operations that could irreparably harm the area,” said o’halleran, a co-sponsor of the grand canyon mining bill.

grijalva rejected gop claims that not all tribes support the bills, which he said have wide support. he cited a poll that showed the majority of those surveyed support a mining ban around the grand canyon and believe that protecting public lands and waters is essential to the future economy and quality of life in arizona.

“there is national support and there’s certainly support from tribal nations from across this country, and in arizona itself, considerable and strong support,” grijalva said.

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this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal. follow them on twitter.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. 

cottonwood, arizona – fighting nature with nature seems like a good idea – unless nature doesn’t care about geography.

today, the effects of a federal decision made 20 years ago to use asian beetles to slow the spread of an invasive shrub across the west are reducing nesting habitat for an endangered songbird – the southwestern willow flycatcher.

the u.s. department of agriculture’s animal and plant health inspection service, introduced tamarisk leaf beetles from china and kazakhstan around the west to kill tamarisk trees, also known as salt cedars. some of the beetles were released near moab in eastern utah.

“the goal of their program was to control tamarisk,” said greg beatty, a biologist with the u.s. fish and wildlife service who has led flycatcher recovery efforts since 1999. “reduce it. kill some plants. i don’t think they anticipated that it would kill all tamarisk, but that it would reduce its abundance.”

the beetles did their job, stripping the tamarisk of its feathery, green canopy, which often kills this fast-growing deciduous shrub. the tamarisk was introduced in the 1800s from eurasia as an ornamental, for use in windbreaks and as a way to control stream-bank erosion.

the aphis program wasn’t supposed to release beetles within 200 miles of where southwestern willow flycatchers nest. the birds can be found throughout the west; in arizona, around roosevelt lake and along the upper gila river. experts calculated even if the beetles migrated south toward arizona, the bugs would not survive the difference in climate.

but beetles don’t follow rules.

“in retrospect,” beatty said, “seems pretty clear there wasn’t really any type of geographical boundary that would have kept them where they were at.”

from the virgin river in southwestern utah and into the grand canyon and its tributaries, the beetles spread into arizona, beatty said.

“it’s happened faster than anybody would have expected because we didn’t expect them to be here,” he said.

tamarisk is reviled across the west. it is notorious for crowding out native vegetation, effectively choking riparian areas, particularly along dammed waterways. some scientists say it hogs water, leaving less for native species, although that’s in dispute. it’s considered a noxious weed in new mexico, montana, south dakota, wyoming and texas.

the usda terminated the biological control program in 2010. but now there’s concern over what will happen to flycatcher habitat in arizona.

the primary nesting habitat for the flycatcher, which was listed as endangered in 1995, is in willow trees surrounding riparian areas. however, researchers have found that flycatchers also use tamarisk.

robin silver, co-founder of the center for biological diversity in tucson, said flycatchers depend on foliage to protect their nestlings from the scorching arizona sun.

“even if there are willows, they’re still dependent on the salt cedar or the tamarisk,” silver said. “so to denude or kill that tamarisk right now is really putting too much on the flycatcher for them to be able to survive long term.”

the songbirds – which are brownish-gray with white wing stripes and measure about 6 inches from beak to tail – are also faithful to their nesting sites, returning year after year.

the birds still are listed as endangered. in an email, beatty said the flycatcher population is measured by territories, which include southern california, arizona, and new mexico. there are 1,200 to 1,600 territories, and the u.s. fish and wildlife service estimates there will be a breeding pair per territory. that puts the number of breeding pairs at 600 to 800.

the center for biological diversity successfully sued aphis in 2013. the court’s ruling found that aphis did not comply with the endangered species act in the conservation of an endangered species.

aphis declined to comment for this story, but the agency did provide documents that state the “greater than anticipated natural and intentional human-assisted movement of the beetle caused it to spread into flycatcher habitat.”

as for the future of the flycatcher, beatty is concerned that habitat loss will have significant impacts.

“i think we’re going to have greater booms and busts … the status of the population will decline as the beetle expands throughout its range.”

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this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a new multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal. follow them on twitter.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. 

soledad, calif. – there is a calming resonance of nature’s finest and subtlest sounds at pinnacles national park. leaves rustle and birds warble as the wind moves between the rolling mountains.

on a good day, park visitors might see california condors circling overhead, with wingspans stretching up to 10 feet.

rachel wolstenholme, condor program manager at pinnacles, carrying telemetry equipment to an outlook, prepared to track these giants of the sky. the park manages 44 condors in the wild and serves as a release site for reintroduction into the wild.

in 1987, condors were on the brink of extinction. all 22 birds remaining in the wild were taken into captive breeding through collaborative programs with the u.s. fish and wildlife service, ventana wildlife society and the peregrine fund.

three decades later, the california condor is slowly rebounding. earlier this fall, four california condors were released at vermillion cliffs national monument in arizona, where around 85 condors live in rugged terrain along the arizona-utah line.

“in fact, this year is really exciting, because this year we had a record number of nests,” said nadya seal faith, conservation and science associate at the santa barbara zoo, which runs a condor recovery program. “in southern california, there was 12. that’s the most of any that we know historically.”

seal faith works closely with condors in captivity, observing their behavioral and social behaviors.

“it’s not only a fascinating species but a fascinating program to work with.” seal faith said. the zoo started to exhibit the condors in 2009.

she says there are now about 500 condors in the world, 300 of which are in the wild.

but the scavengers, which survive off the remains of animals killed by hunters, still battle their leading cause of death: lead poisoning.

“the only issue is that lead ammunition fragments into many, many, many tiny pieces inside a carcass,” wolstenholme said.

she doesn’t want to discourage hunting, but to inform hunters of alternatives to lead ammunition.

“there’s copper bismuth, rifle ammunition,” wolstenholme said. “there’s also steel shot, if people are using lead shot right now, like in a shotgun, there’s steel shot.”

still, wolstenholme hopes california condors will be taken off the endangered species list in the near future.

“i like to say less than a decade. i actually know we can get there sooner. it’s all about making sure that they have a clean food resource,” she said.

in december, pinnacles national park will release three california condors into the wild.

“we’ll open the trap door for them, so they can leave when they’re ready,” wolstenholme said.

joint efforts and successful releases keep her and seal faith motivated.

“it’s just been so collaborative, and it’s been so great to see so many people, you know, wanting this bird to succeed,” seal faith said. “and i think that’s just been really special to be a part of.”

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this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a new multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. 

flagstaff – universities in arizona are stepping up how they handle food waste and single-use plastic. all three of the state’s universities have robust composting programs to reduce what ends up in landfills. but northern arizona university has expanded its efforts to include reusable food containers, and it banned plastic straws this year. now, flagstaff businesses are taking similar steps.

“i see all of the plastic in the ocean and i really want to make sure nau isn’t contributing to that at all,” said senior emerald mccormick, chair of the student run organization nau green fund, which provides funding for projects that reduce the university’s environmental impact. the funds come from a fee nau students pay for sustainability.

in january, mccormick implemented a system at all the campus dining halls that allows students to use “green” food containers that resemble takeout containers. students pay a one time $5 fee for a token, which allows them to check out a container. when they’re finished eating, students return the containers to a machine that stores them until they can be washed, and they get their token back.

“a lot of students are really excited for it. that’s why we expanded it all across campus because they kept asking for it,” mccormick said.

not much of the waste from the food containers goes into the trash. at least 90 percent of nau’s dining hall food waste is composted. after four stages of processing, the waste ends up in piles of compost hidden behind campus.

“all that soil just goes back to nau,” said nau campus-dining sustainability coordinator gaby galvan. “we use it on landscaping. we use it in community gardens. we use it in our greenhouses. it goes to the community members. so it’s just all recycled back into our community.”

composting saves the university on garbage disposal costs. last year, more than 300,000 pounds of food waste made it into the compost piles. that number could be more this year, as campus dining now uses straws that are 100% compostable.

galvan said it was “pretty easy” to get rid of small, disposable plastic on campus, “and also at the same time create a behavior change, and get students to start thinking if they really need all of the plastic disposables that they use throughout the day.”

the behavior change is spreading to flagstaff businesses. laura diez is the nau student who wants to get half of flagstaff businesses straw-free by 2020. she also leads the straw free flag campaign, which is an effort to eliminate single-use plastics.

“i really just am looking for some sort of mindfulness around straws. … obviously i hope to see those eradicated pretty soon,” diez said.

one local business, single speed coffee cafe, no longer uses plastic straws. instead, patrons can get a paper straw and pay extra for a plastic cup.

“nau is always going to be a really big influence on all of us and their ban kind of makes it more known to the students as well,” said zachary shouse, manager of single speed. “it kind of starts to be a normal thing as people go around.”

at least 10 businesses have signed the straw free flag pledge, and about 30 businesses now provide straws by request only, diez said.

arizona state university has similar programs in place. food is composted and plastic straws are not available in dining halls.

the university of arizona is exploring alternative straw options, according to trevor ledbetter, who directs the office of sustainability. the university also has a composting program in partnership with tucson.

—

this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a new multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. 

grand junction, colo. – the temperature is hovering around 90 degrees as dale ryden and i float down the colorado river near grand junction. the turbid water looks inviting, a blessed reprieve from the heat, but if either of us jumped in, we’d be electrocuted.

“it can actually probably be lethal to people if you get in there,” said ryden, a fish biologist with the u.s. fish and wildlife service.

ryden’s co-workers cruise by in gray and blue inflatable rafts, their bows fitted with a rig that suspends metal spheres the size of disco balls from electric cables. when the balls are lowered into the river, a generator at the back of each raft sends current through the balls into the water. what lies beneath the surface – ryden likened it to ovaltine – is a mystery the biologists intend to explore.

“to get at the animal we’re studying, we have to actually find ways to capture them and take them out of their natural habitat,” ryden said. “and so, one of the ways we can do that is electrofishing.”

fish that venture near the electrified rafts are momentarily stunned and pulled from the water with nets. today’s mission is to remove non-native fish – such as smallmouth bass that feed on the fry of the four endangered species found in the river. the bass will be collected, measured, weighed, stored in bags and eventually sent to a landfill.

any of the four endangered species – bonytail, razorback sucker, colorado pikeminnow and humpback chub – we encounter will be treated with care and released back into the river.

ryden has a tough, and some would say impossible, job. every day, he tries to find ways to help fish that evolved to live only in this river system – one of the most engineered ecosystems in the world – survive.

ancient species

fish in the colorado river are a product of harsh conditions.

over millions of years, the rushing, sediment-laden water sculpted their bodies with characteristic ridges and bumps, making them well-equipped to handle its highs and lows. but human interference in the rivers they call home has pushed a few to the edge of extinction.

“they’ve survived three explosions of the yellowstone supervolcano,” ryden said. “they were here when mastodons and woolly mammoths went extinct.”

however, the era of big dam building in the west fundamentally altered their river home over the past 100 years or so, ryden said. dams and diversions have made life close to impossible for these fish. then people started adding toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and a range of invasive fish for sportsmen to catch.

“call it the death by a thousand cuts,” ryden said. “so they could survive any one of those problems probably fairly well. when you start throwing them all on top of them, then it becomes a lot more problematic.”

about an hour into our trip, there’s a flurry of activity on one of the rafts. technician andrew disch dips his net and pulls out the river’s historic top predator – the colorado pikeminnow. it has been listed as endangered for more than 50 years.

the fish is impressive, measuring about 3 feet long. but it pales compared to the pikeminnows that once hunted the river, ryden said.

“back in the day, these guys used to get 6 feet long and a hundred pounds.”

the pikeminnow gulps down prey with a mouth so huge you could put your whole hand inside without touching the sides – something ryden has tested personally. the torpedo-bodied fish is pale green on top with a white belly and pinkish tail.

u.s. fish and wildlife service biologist travis francis scanned a microchip biologists inserted in the pikeminnow years ago.

“we haven’t we haven’t seen this fish since 2004,” he said, adding that biologists make dozens of passes over this section of river each summer. they’ve documented some pikeminnow migrating several hundred river miles from the san juan river, down through lake powell and up to grand junction. early settlers nicknamed the pikeminnow “the white salmon” for such behavior.

ryden estimated 400 pikeminnow exist in the upper reaches of the colorado river, and close to 800 in stretches of the green river, a tributary of the colorado. he likens the pikeminnow to a lioness on the serengeti: each is at the apex of its food chain. now imagine you built a series of concrete walls around the lion, boxing her in, making it difficult to hunt. that’s what dams on the colorado river have done to the pikeminnow, ryden said.

after the fish was measured and scanned, ryden gently picked it up and walked into the river.

“come here, baby,” he whispered.

with both hands he lowers the minnow into the water. it disappears into the murk.

during this day on the river, ryden repeatedly referred to the endangered species as “our fish.” he takes ownership of their protection. they’re something different and more special than the non-native fish that surround them.

“i’ve earned a lot of respect for them,” he said. “i think if you put that many issues in front of people that we had to adapt to in a very short amount of time, i think as a species we would have a very hard time existing in some of the world-changing conditions that these fish have.”

defining success in recovery

since 1988, recovery programs for endangered colorado river fish have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, funded by a mix of hydropower revenues and money from agencies within the department of the interior. ryden said the effort is beginning to pay off.

two species – the humpback chub and the razorback sucker – are on their way to being downgraded from endangered to threatened.

but deciding whether an endangered species is “recovered” is a subject for debate. some environmental groups have questioned the fish and wildlife service’s decision to downlist the two species. in the case of the razorback sucker, they contend, most of its population growth is the result of an intense breeding and stocking program, not reproduction in the wild. going forward, it’s unclear how much government intervention will be necessary to keep the sucker from going extinct.

in its proposal to downlist the razorback, the upper colorado endangered fish recovery program recommends that fish and wildlife revise the program’s goals, and that its current goals for “recovery,” written in 2002, are inadequate and dated.

the program, a partnership of local, state and federal agencies, water and power interests, and environmental groups, is set to expire in 2023. director tom chart said the partners are rethinking what recovery of means, and how best to achieve it. current goals for the program don’t fully address the need for more coordinated management of flows from the colorado river system’s reservoirs, removal of non-native fish and stocking of endangered species past 2023, he said.

“the colorado river is one of the most altered ecosystems in the world,” chart said in an email. “the (fish and wildlife) service should revise recovery goals for this species in these contexts and based on the experiences and information gathered.”

‘some people even kiss them’

although the endangered species act of 1973 requires the government to save these fish, it can be tough convincing the public that they’re valuable and the effort isn’t in vain. a razorback sucker, ryden noted, doesn’t have the charisma of other wildlife.

“basically we’ve made the judgment through the endangered species act that it (the endangered animal) is there for a reason and it has a right to exist,” he said. “and it doesn’t have to be a polar bear or an eagle.”

in our last few miles on the river, the biologists net a razorback sucker – the second of the day – and head toward the river bank to scan it. the grayish-green fish is notable for its pronounced hump, which looks like the keel of an overturned boat.

that’s when the morton family from houston – mom kate and kids simon and claire – floated by on a raft. ryden, seeing an opportunity to educate the public on the value of the razorback sucker, called them over. he pulled the sucker from the livewell of the raft and presented it to the mortons.

“go ahead, give it a pet,” ryden suggested.

simon gently rubbed his fingers along the fish’s scales. claire tentatively placed an index finger on the razorback’s head.

“isn’t that special?” her mother asked. “wow, that is an awesome fish.”

when ryden first started working on the colorado river, razorbacks nearly had been wiped out. he didn’t see one during his first four years on the job. one day, a crew brought one into the hatchery for breeding. he remembers the biologists crowding around it, marveling at the novelty of seeing a wild razorback.

“some people even kiss them if you’re really brave,” ryden told simon. “just right on the cheek.”

ryden leaned in, nearly touching his lips to the fish, and made a kiss sound.

now, after years of stocking tens of thousands into some reaches of the river, ryden says razorback suckers are plentiful enough that you can find one on any summer day and give it a kiss.

this story is part of a project covering the colorado river, produced by kunc and supported through a walton family foundation grant. kunc is solely responsible for its editorial content.

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this story is part of elemental: covering sustainability, a multimedia collaboration between cronkite news, arizona pbs, kjzz, kpcc, rocky mountain pbs and pbs socal.

republished with permission. see the original piece at cronkite news. for more stories from cronkite news, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.