RENO, Nev.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to designate 930 acres of protected critical habitat in Nevada for the endangered Dixie Valley toad.

The Dixie Valley toad is a small amphibian that lives in just one spring-fed wetland in Churchill County. It is threatened with extinction by a geothermal power plant that could dry up its wetland habitat.

“We’re pleased that the Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing concrete action to protect the Dixie Valley toad,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This precious little amphibian is an integral part of a wetland ecosystem that sustains migratory birds, pronghorn and golden eagles. Protecting its habitat safeguards the abundance of life at Dixie Meadows.”

The toad was declared endangered in 2022 in a rare emergency listing as construction of the geothermal project commenced. Later that year, after the bulldozers were halted and the Center intervened legally, the listing was made permanent.

Several independent scientists have said that the Dixie Meadows Geothermal Utilization Project poses an existential risk to the Dixie Valley toad due to the high likelihood that pumping the geothermal aquifer would alter or dry up the springs that sustain the toad's wetland habitat.

The Service's proposed rule to designate the critical habitat cites the geothermal project as “the primary threat to the Dixie Valley toad,” adding that it could cause “significant, detrimental impacts to the water flow and temperature emanating from the thermal springs the Dixie Valley toad relies on.”

“For seven years we've been saying that this is the wrong place for a geothermal project,” said Donnelly. “Geothermal is part of our renewable energy transition but it can't come at the cost of extinction. We’re glad to see these proposed critical habitat protections and we won't ever give up our fight to save the Dixie Valley toad.”