One of four imperiled fish on the Colorado River will stay on the endangered species list at least another five years to ensure its numbers are rebounding. Colorado pikeminnows, once known as squawfish, are now most common in the Green and Yampa rivers, though the 15-mile stretch of the Colorado River through the Grand Valley that is considered critical to survival of the fish.

Biologists recently caught a razorback sucker in Grand Canyon National Park. It was the first one seen in 20 years and it is believed the fish swam upstream 50 miles from Lake Mead.

On Oct. 9, biologists electrofishing in Grand Canyon National Park caught a razorback sucker -- the first one seen in the park in 20 years. The endangered fish, known for its distinctive humpback, huge size (up to three feet long!) and long life (40-plus years!) was once common in the Colorado River and its tributaries.

On July 25, California Gov. Jerry Brown announced to an expectant press corps that the state plans to construct a pair of multibillion-dollar tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta in order to modernize and possibly expand the export of Northern California's water, mostly south to farms and cities.

The Interior Department announced a plan on Wednesday to allow periodic increases in the flow of Colorado River water through the Grand Canyon, alleviating the environmental disruption caused by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona in the 1960s.

With 2012 shaping up to be at least a near-record drought year in the high country, some of the Colorado River’s endangered native fish could be facing a battle for survival, especially in key tributaries like the Yampa, in northwestern Colorado.

The roundtail chub may be swimming to the rescue of the Lower Dolores River. After seven years at the table, the Dolores River Dialogue has found “A Way Forward.” The collaborative effort is rallying around threats to native fish and developing a plan that could aid in the recovery of three species and bring regular flows back to the dry river.

Preserving just 4 percent of the ocean could protect crucial habitat for the vast majority of marine mammal species, from sea otters to blue whales, according to researchers at Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Their findings were published in the Aug. 16 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.