Group threatens another lawsuit over endangered Nevada fish

For the second time in six years, an environmental group is threatening to sue federal regulators over an endangered fish it says could be wiped out by proposed groundwater development in Clark and Lincoln counties.

The Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity on Friday filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management over the Moapa dace.

The finger-length fish with a black spot on its tail has been under federal protection for almost 50 years. Since 2008, when its numbers fell below 500, the population has steadily grown to more than 2,000, thanks largely to restoration and predator-control work in the warm springs and streams at the headwaters of the Muddy River, 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The dace's entire habitat is confined to the 116-acre Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge, some adjacent private land and the Warm Springs Natural Area, a 1,218-acre tract the Southern Nevada Water Authority bought for $69 million in 2007.

The wholesale water supplier for the Las Vegas Valley joined the effort to protect the dace under a 2006 federal agreement that cleared the authority to pump groundwater at nearby Coyote Springs.

But Rob Mrowka, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said large-scale pumping by the authority and others, including developers hoping to build a master-planned community at Coyote Springs, "will spell disaster for one of the rarest native fishes in Nevada."

"The good efforts by the Fish and Wildlife Service to restore habitat on the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge will go for naught if sprawl developments and golf courses siphon off the precious groundwater before it reaches the springs the dace live in," Mrowka said in a written statement. "These agencies have a moral and legal responsibility to protect this endangered species. Letting these projects proceed will, in all likelihood, push this fish into extinction."

Fish & Wildlife Service officials Nevada were not immediately available for comment, but the agency has previously declined to talk about pending legal action.

The litigious environmental group also sued the Fish & Wildlife Service over protection of the dace in 2010, but that lawsuit was decided in the government's favor in 2012 and upheld on appeal in September.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Find him on Twitter: @RefriedBrean