Gila News from Melissa

Good morning all,

Snowing in santa fe.

OK, I just talked to Jim, and he will send out a more detailed message
soon, but the message is

F&WS wants "several more months" to examine this issue.

They are worried about Gila chub and also Headwaters Chub, want the
Department to do some more monitoring of endangered fish to have a better
baseline of population numbers. They are concerned, of course, about the fish,
but also about getting sued on the fishs' account. They want more data on
potential otter behavior, like using streams of less than 10 cfs. Perhaps
radiotelemeter the animals, perhaps release only a few to start with. And so forth.

Since we are going to come up against the natal season in a couple of months,
we are probably not going to plan on releasing otters into the Gila for another year.

So sorry about all this.

Melissa