The ancestral home of the federally endangered pahrump poolfish (empetrichthys latos) was located at manse spring in pahrump, nevada but was lost due to excessive pumping of groundwater for…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) awarded a $456,244 Cooperative Agreement to the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) under the FWS Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657). The objective is to recreate a 100-meter desert spring refugium for the federally endangered Pahrump poolfish at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada. This project aims to establish an additional population of the Pahrump poolfish to increase the species' redundancy and representation per the Pahrump Poolfish Recovery Plan. LVVWD will partner with FWS and the Nevada Department of Wildlife to monitor the Pahrump poolfish population within the newly created refugium over the 3-year project period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026.

The ancestral home of the federally endangered pahrump poolfish (empetrichthys latos) was located at manse spring in pahrump, nevada but was lost due to excessive pumping of groundwater for agriculture in the mid-1970S. Since then, the species has been managed exclusively at refugia sites representing entirely different conditions than those at their ancestral home. The pahrump poolfish recovery plan requires the creation and long-term stability of a minimum of three populations to increase population resiliency, downgrade, and eventually delist the species. The objective of this multi-agency conservation project is to recreate an approximately 100-meter desert spring refugium for the pahrump poolfish in the south fork of the historic LAS vegas creek at the springs PRESERVE (PRESERVE) in LAS vegas, nevada. Like manse spring, the creek ran dry prior to 1962 because of groundwater pumping. IT was not until 1984 that scientists realized that the creek had been home to the endemic, but now extinct, LAS vegas dace (rhinichthys deaconi). To promote the recovery of pahrump poolfish, the LAS vegas valley water district and U.S. Fish and wildlife SERVICE (SERVICE) entered into a 15-year pahrump poolfish safe harbor agreement that allows for the establishment of refugia at the PRESERVE to increase species redundancy and representation. Once the refugium has been designed and built, the PRESERVE will work with the SERVICE and the nevada department of wildlife (NDOW) to monitor the population.