Action timeline

1999 – The Biodiversity Legal Foundation (later acquired by the Center) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force the listing of 29 imperiled species, including the vermilion darter, under the Endangered Species Act.

November 28, 2001 – The Service listed the vermilion darter as endangered.

June 20, 2007 – The Service published a federal recovery plan for the vermilion darter.

December 19, 2007 – The Center sued to earn critical habitat for the vermilion darter.

December 6, 2010 – Nearly 10 years after the fish earned federal protection, the Fish and Wildlife Service finally granted it 13 river miles of critical habitat.