Federal agency designates critical habitat for endangered minnow

Friday August 23, 2002
WCCO 4 News

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing designating portions of 186 streams in Nebraska, Minnesota and three other states as critical habitat for a once-common Midwestern minnow.

The Topeka shiner was placed on the endangered species list in 1998.

The service said streams listed in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and South Dakota are only those currently occupied by the Topeka shiner. Those streams are considered to have the physical and biological features essential to the conservation of the tiny species.

The agency said a critical habitat designation will help focus federal, state, tribal and private management efforts but does not create a preserve or refuge for the fish.