After winning litigation that struck down the critical habitat designation for the Arkansas River shiner and recovering $47,500 in attorneys fees, the Foundation continued to coordinate the work of 17 organizations in four states working with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to draft a new critical habitat designation for the Arkansas River shiner.

The Foundation contracted with an Austin law firm, a fisheries biologist from Arizona, and an economist from California to gather information and comment on the Service’s proposed designation. The Service intends to publish a final rule on critical habitat by September 30, 2005. The most recent critical habitat proposal from the Service is an improvement over the previous rule. The Service decided to exclude the Beaver/North Canadian River from critical habitat, based upon the lack of flow and primary constituent elements to support the shiner. However, the proposal still affects 24 counties in Oklahoma.

The Foundation wishes to exclude those areas from critical habitat which will not support the Arkansas River shiner, and to exclude those areas that do support the shiner by adopting a voluntary conservation management plan for the fish. The Foundation has been drafting a voluntary conservation management plan for portions of the Canadian River in Oklahoma and Texas, and portions of the Cimarron River in Oklahoma and Kansas. This plan will be implemented with the cooperation of state and federal agencies, organizations, and private individuals.

The ultimate goal of the Foundation, in cooperation with the Arkansas River Shiner Coalition, is to recover and delist the Arkansas River shiner from the Endangered Species list.