"These fish exist nowhere else in the world. That’s something worth preserving, right?”

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     September 9, 2022 [This is a fish tale.]( Once upon a time, the Colorado River basin was full of abundant native fish that evolved to survive in its harsh desert climate. One of them, the razorback sucker, thrived there for more than 3 million years. But the razorback sucker was never anyone’s idea of a sport fish. It’s a bottom feeder that lives on river detritus—mostly dead plant and animal matter—and can grow up to three feet long. Native Americans ate some, but by and large, it wasn’t a prized meal. So in 1962, when the US Bureau of Reclamation built a new dam on the Green River and created the Flaming Gorge reservoir, state officials in Utah and Wyoming launched a mass extermination campaign to rid the new fake lake of the ancient fish so it could be stocked with non-native farmed trout that would lure anglers, and their tourist dollars, to the rural area. They spread the poison rotenone over 445 miles of the Green River before the dam was closed, killing 450 tons of fish in just three days. Thanks to the poison and the dam itself, in less than three short decades, a fish that had been abundant in the river for millennia was reduced to a wild population of about 1,000. It was added to the endangered species list in 1991. The horror of the Green River poisoning story has stuck with me ever since I first read about it, and [I’ve finally gotten to write about it this week](. In May, I visited the Ouray National Fish Hatchery on the Green River near Ouray, Utah, where scientists are trying to bring the razorback back from the brink. I was lucky enough to be there on the one day a year that workers spawn the razorbacks that will eventually be sent back into the Green to try to shore up the wild population. And I got to help! I held in my arms a fish known as a “dinosaur of the Colorado,” while hatchery workers rubbed her belly to coax out a mess of eggs into a Ziploc bag, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. [You can read about my visit, and the plight of these big, ancient fish here](. And please check out the amazing photos from Russel Albert Daniels, a Salt Lake City-based photographer who came along for the ride. —Stephanie Mencimer Advertisement [Icarus Films, Inc.]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [The Colorado River Is Dying. Can Its Aquatic Dinosaurs Be Saved?]( The razorback sucker has survived in the river for more than 3 million years. Climate change could end that. BY STEPHANIE MENCIMER [Trending] [DC mayor responds to months-long migrant busing by declaring a public emergency]( BY ISABELA DIAS   [Republicans are desperately trying to flip-flop on abortion]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG   [US officials "red-list" lobsters to help critically endangered whales]( BY KAREN MCVEIGH   [Electric utilities key players in climate denial, study finds]( BY ZOYA TEIRSTEIN Advertisement [Icarus Films, Inc.]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [It didn’t start with Trump: The decades-long saga of how the GOP went crazy]( The modern Republican Party has always exploited and encouraged extremism. BY DAVID CORN [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755