A forest burns down. Humans rescue fish, keep ’em alive in an Albuquerque warehouse. Maybe 80 years before the drainage that feeds their forest creek recovers. Maybe 200. This is life in the anthropocene:
Angela James’ fish tanks don’t look much like Whiskey Creek.
But for 68 imperiled Gila trout, the tanks in a northeast Albuquerque warehouse will have to do for now. After last year’s Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico, Whiskey Creek itself doesn’t look much like Whiskey Creek anymore.
“I refer to it as a halfway house,” said James, a fish biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as she prepared a breakfast of frozen bloodworms for her guests.
Loved this story of the heroic (but sadly temporary) rescue of Gila trout. Would you consider writing a longer piece on these people and places — including the effects of climate change and drought on the Gila?
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