Lawsuit challenges removal of endangered species protecion for Sacramento splittail

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit yesterday to reinstate federal endangered species protection for the Sacramento splittail, an imperiled fish found in California’s Central Valley and San Francisco Bay-Delta. The Sacramento splittail rose to fame as the species that helped bring down Julie Macdonald, disgraced former overseer of the US Fish and Wildlife Service under George W. Bush. Macdonald was accused of ignoring recommendations from her staff scientists and stripping away protections of species for the benefit of developers and possibly herself.  Supposedly Macdonald who owned an 80-acre farm in the Yolo Bypass — a floodplain that is key habitat for the splittail — edited the splittail decision in a manner that appeared to benefit her financial interests. Macdonald stepped down under strong public pressure.

The Sacramento splittail is a minnow that  primarily lives in  freshwater but can tolerate moderate levels of salinity. The fish is found mostly in slow-moving marshy sections of rivers and dead-end sloughs. It feeds on bottom-dwelling invertebrates and detritus. It’s range once extended throughout much of the Central Valley of California but has recently narrowed mostly to the Sacramento Delta, Suisun Bay, and the Suisun and Napa marshes.

The splittail had been listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999 as threatened. However, litigation by water agencies challenging the listing prompted a court order for the Service to review the status of the fish. In 2003 the Service removed the splittail from the threatened list. The Center for Biological Diversity argues that the US Fish and Wildlife service delisted the threatened fish despite the strong consensus of staff scientists and fisheries experts that it should keep its protected status.