Wall canyon sucker barrier project (phase 2)the wall canyon sucker (catostomus SP.) is an undescribed unique castonomid native to wall creek and mountain view creek, in northern washoe county, nevada

The Nevada Department of Wildlife received a $258,350 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP, CFDA 15.686) program, effective July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027. This award funds Phase 2 of the Wall Canyon Sucker Barrier Project, which aims to protect an endangered endemic fish species found exclusively in Wall Creek and Mountain View Creek in northern Washoe County, Nevada. The project addresses the threat posed by nonnative salmonid species (brown and rainbow trout) that have encroached into the native sucker's habitat following degradation of a previous rock gabion barrier structure.

Under this award, the Nevada Department of Wildlife will deliver contracted services for the design, permitting, construction, and post-construction research associated with a new, permanent fish exclusion barrier. These contractual efforts will result in a structurally sound barrier structure intended to permanently exclude nonnative trout from the upper reaches of Wall Creek, thereby protecting the Wall Canyon Sucker population and its occupied habitat. The project represents a multi-year conservation initiative leveraging federal funding through the National Fish Habitat Partnership to achieve specific objectives in fish habitat protection and invasive species management.

The species is a narrow endemic and found nowhere else on earth. The overarching goal of this multi-year project is to permanently exclude nonnative salmonids, including brown and rainbow trout, from the upper reaches of wall creek, where they threaten the population of and occupied habitat for this rare native species. Previous protective measures including a rock gabion barrier structure had been effective however, time, erosion, and episodic periods of high flows and flooding have allowed the competitive and predatory nonnative salmonid species to encroach back into the wall canyon sucker occupied habitat. IT is imperative that the failing barrier be replaced with an updated and more structurally sound exclusionary feature in order to protect the sucker. The nevada department of wildlife has applied for and is requesting partial funding from the desert fishes habitat partnership to protect the wall canyon sucker population in wall creek from encroachment by nonnative trout through achieving objectives specific to the design, permitting, funding, and construction of a new, permanent fish barrier. The entirety of the funds requested at this time will be used for contractual needs to finalize the design, construct the barrier structure, and follow-up research.