Moab’s “fish squeezers” faced an uncertain future this summer. Funding for their fish recovery work on the Colorado and San Juan rivers had been stripped, with no explanation or obvious solution in sight. But just late last month, at the urging of all seven Colorado River Basin states, an appropriations bill restored funding, allowing recovery programs to make it through another fiscal year. It’s good news, but the dramatic events shook Moab’s field office, leaving a lingering anxiety about what was once considered to be a permanent source of funding. Uncertainty remains, but one thing is clear to many –the importance of fish recovery programs and the data biologists gather for the health of the Colorado’s endangered species. [photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]
