Action timeline

March 11, 1967 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Moapa dace as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

May 16, 1996 – The Service published its Recovery Plan for the Rare Aquatic Species of the Muddy River Ecosystem, which focused largely on the Moapa dace.

February 10, 2009 – The Center sent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management a notice of intent to sue over violations of the Endangered Species Act that were hurting the endangered Moapa dace and threatened desert tortoise. The violations related to decisions made by the agencies concerning the Kane Springs Valley Groundwater Development, the Coyote Springs Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, and a 2006 Memorandum of Agreement for groundwater withdrawals affecting the Warm Springs area of the Muddy River.

April 22, 2010 – The Center submitted 130 protests of water-rights applications filed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Lincoln County Water District, and the Virgin River Water District that posed a threat to numerous rare and sensitive species in Nevada, including the Moapa dace.

Summer 2010 – A fire almost completely destroyed the Warm Springs Oasis on the Muddy River, delivering what many believed could be a mortal blow to the fish’s last remaining population.

August 23, 2010 – The Center filed a lawsuit challenging the Interior Department’s failure to protect the critically imperiled Moapa dace by approving test groundwater pumping by the Southern Nevada Water Authority in the fish’s last habitat.