The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership (DFHP), Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI), the  Southern Rockies Landscape Conservation Cooperative (SRLCC), and many others are working together to conduct a conservation assessment of the U.S. Rio Grande Valley to determine areas appropriate for habitat-related projects.  This will be accomplished through strategic conservation planning that includes multi-species concerns, broad landscapes benefits, a data-driven approach, persistence of all priority species’ populations, and human land use. This project addresses the specific problem of where and how to set basic priorities for effective management across the Rio Grande basin. 

The DFHP Coordinator Stephanie Vail-Muse joined DFHP Executive Committee member Megan Bean fromTexas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries  and State Park biologists with help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy, and the University of Texas to check out the health of fish populations in Balmorhea State Park at the end of March . Balmorhea is home to two endangered fish species: Pecos Gambusia and Comanche Springs Pupfish.Both of these species have lost most of their native range and are now living in two man-made cienegas at Balmorhea State Park.  Today these cienegas support numerous fish, invertebrate, bird, amphibian and turtle species.

    Left: Comanche Springs Pupfish                               Right: Pecos Gambusia