A two-inch minnow found only in an Oregon valley will be the first fish removed from the federal threatened and endangered species list because it no longer faces extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Tuesday. The Oregon chub once swam by the millions in the ponds, sloughs and marshes near the Williamette River in western Oregon. Its numbers declined sharply over the last century as wetlands were drained for development and due to predation by nonnative fish like largemouth bass. Fewer than 1,000 remained in just eight wetlands in 1993 when the Oregon chub gained protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Oregon minnow to be first U.S. fish delisted because of recovery
