At only three inches long, the spikedace would seem to be of little importance yet the minnow is the focus of a concerted repopulation effort here in the Verde Valley.

On May 11, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service transferred 221 spikedace from the Aquatic Research Conservation Center in Page Springs to Spring Creek, near Sedona. With this one move, the organization hopes to expand the habitat of the endangered animal.

“Spikedace are officially down to just five natural populations, but it is more likely just three, because in two of the five they have not been detected in over 15 years,” stated Tony Robinson, program manager for the AZGFD Gila River Basin Native Fishes Conservation Program. “So the situation is pretty dire. The main reasons for decline are thought to be the spread of nonnative fishes that prey on or compete with them, the decrease in available habitat because of alteration of stream flow [dams, diversions and groundwater wells] and the degradation of habitat from past land use practices [mine spills, overgrazing].”

According to Robinson, the effort began in 2011, with a survey of the creek to understand its potential for spikedace and, it turned out, for the Gila topminnow, another endangered fish species. At the time of the survey, Spring Creek already hosted five native fish species, including a species under Robinson’s supervision as manager of the conservation program: The Gila chub.

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, May 27, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.