Category

Leon Springs Pupfish

A survivor of water diversions, oil spills, rotenone poisoning, hybridization, and other threats, the Leon Springs Pupfish is a very rare fish now found only in the Diamond Y Spring near Fort Stockton.

Interviews

Narrator: Tony EchelleTitle: A Remnant OasisDuration: 00:02:26Date: June 18, 2021Tony Echelle, Ph.D., has worked as a zoology professor at Oklahoma State University, teaching and researching for close to four decades. Desert spring fish make up one of his major interests. Here he discusses the Leon Springs Pupfish, an endangered fish native to the Diamond Y Springs, near Fort Stockton, and explains why it is so critical to protect the Pupfish and its ecosystem.Narrator: Gary GarrettTitle: RotenoneDuration: 00:01:51Date: June 28, 2023Gary Garrett, Ph.D., a research biologist at the University of Texas, and former director of the Watershed Conservation Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife, has worked to study and protect desert fish for decades. Here he tells about the effort more than 40 years ago to save the Leon Springs pupfish and the Pecos pupfish from hybridization threats in a small desert spring north of Fort Stockton.Narrator: John KargesTitle: The Radical CenterDuration: 00:02:46Date: June 19, 2021John Karges is a conservation biologist who worked at the Nature Conservancy of Texas for 30 years, as Coordinator for the Texas Natural History Survey, and as the manager and steward for West Texas programs and sites. He worked closely with researchers, landowners, government agencies, and oil and gas operators to protect the Diamond Y Springs and Draw, home of the very rare Leon Springs pupfish. Here he talks about the importance of finding common ground with conservation partners.Narrator: Robert MaceTitle: Acres for DitchesDuration: 00:01:37Date: July 28, 2021Robert Mace, Ph.D., is a hydrologist. He works as the Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, and is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Geography at Texas State University in San Marcos. Here Dr. Mace describes the history of the development of Leon and Comanche Springs for irrigation, leveraged by state incentives dating back to the 1870s. His perspective helps explain the 150 years of pressure on these springs, and the related impact on the Leon Springs pupfish.