Long-running effort to list Clear Lake hitch as a federal endangered species still unresolved

That the Clear Lake hitch are in trouble is not news — not to local Pomo tribes, for whom the fish have been a staple food and cultural touchstone over centuries of time, and not to scientists who have monitored their decline over the past decade and more.

The hitch, or “chi,” as they are known by Indigenous people, were named a state Species of Special Concern in 1989 — more than three decades ago.

The numbers had declined enough by the early 2000s that local volunteers formed the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch to monitor their spawning numbers and maintain records.

Those reports, in turn, helped inform formal petitions prepared by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, which, working with local tribes, sought listing of the Clear Lake hitch under state and federal Endangered Species Acts in 2012.

“The ESA listing has a 99% success rate of bringing species back from the brink,” because of the protections it offers, said Meg Townsend, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity and a key advocate in the process.

In 2014, California declared the chi subject to protections as a threatened species.

But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held off, finally denying protection in 2020, during the waning days of the Trump administration, on grounds that protection was not warranted — despite findings that the fish had lost 85% of their wetland rearing habitat along Clear Lake’s shore and 92% of their spawning habitat due to stream alterations.

Michael Fris, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Sacramento, said the determination was based on the data available at the time — before the population crash of the last few years.

In the meantime, Fish and Wildlife directed the U.S. Geological Survey to begin its hitch surveys in 2017 and has continued funding federal and tribal restoration and research projects begun in 2005 to help conserve the Clear Lake hitch.

Last April, under a new presidential administration, the agency agreed to reconsider its listing decision to settle a court challenge to the earlier denial — a move “compatible with where the data is taking us anyway,” Fris said.

Fish and Wildlife is expected to produce what’s called a “12-month finding” on whether listing is warranted by January 2025.

But after the release late last summer of USGS survey results that showed population numbers so low many fear the chi are teetering on the brink of extinction. The state Fish and Game Commission, the 15-member Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake, which was create by state legislation in 2017, tribal governments and the Center for Biological Diversity all have asked for emergency federal listing of the hitch.

“The species is trending toward extinction,” Townsend said. “Now is really the time.”

Fris said the focus on listing distracts from the agency’s commitment to “doing what we can to preserve the species.” He said he hoped this winter’s rainfall would make conditions more conducive to a successful spawning year.

But conservationists and others stakeholders say that’s not good enough. After last year’s dire USGS survey data came in, Lake County tribal representative went as a group to plead for action from the California Fish and Game Commission, inspiring a series of discussions that have generated new urgency around the issue, in part through the support of state Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham.

Commissioners suggested a government-to-government summit with local tribes in December aimed at trying to identify specific short- and long-term strategies to address the issue.

Joining the effort was the State Water Resources Control Board, whose Division of Water Rights staff has dug in to try to understand the local hydrology, water rights and local demand, as well as illegal water uses and enforcement opportunities in the area.

But the surest, fastest action that can help, said Jessica Bean, environmental program manager for the Water Rights Division, is voluntary reduction of water use to keep more water in the creeks.

“There are a lot of variables at play here, and that’s what makes it so challenging to move quickly,” Bean said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.