Left: California Gulch on May 1, 2023. Right: Nov., 27, 2024.
A small, moderately chubby fish species that feeds on insects and algae is under threat by a newly built segment of border wall and paved road cutting across Arizona’s California Gulch.
The construction is blocking streamflow critical to the survival of the Sonoran Chub according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
The desert fish, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, relies on access to scarce desert waters on either side of the border.
“The new wall and road will push these imperiled fish to the brink of extinction,” said Krista Kemppinen, a senior scientist with the Center.
The Sonoran Chub also reproduces with upstream migrations of fish from Mexico.
However, the Center says this movement is impossible due to the new construction.
Critical habitat was designated for the fish in 1986, which included the entire range of the species that was known at the time– the California Gulch population wasn’t discovered until later.
In 2023, the Center filed a petition to designate about four miles of the Gulch as critical habitat but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that action may not be taken until 2027.
The petition also identified the new border wall segment as a primary threat to the population.
Other threats to the Sonoran Chub are climate change, mining and grazing by livestock.
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