The 40th of the United States, South Dakota, is often referred to as “the land of infinite variety” by those who know it best. The state, located in the middle of the country, is indeed home to a lot of what city-goers might call “grass.” However, it has more miles of shoreline than Florida, a trove of diverse biomes, and even hosts the world’s largest annual motorcycle rally. This variety also extends to wildlife, ranging from American bison to the skybound Cooper’s hawk.
There are 15 species of plants and animals living in South Dakota currently listed as threatened or endangered list under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), which established legal conservation protections for at-risk wildlife when it was passed in 1973.
As a federal piece of legislation, any species listed under the ESA will receive its protections regardless of which state they are in, as is the case for the 15 species in South Dakota.
However, on a state level, the management, protection, and restoration of endangered and threatened species fall under the jurisdiction of two agencies, the Department of Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) and the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as codified in South Dakota statute 34A-8. It mandates the maintenance of a state-specific list of threatened and endangered species in addition to the ESA.
With devastating environmental consequences from climate change on the rise, the need for federal and state-based wildlife conservation is more pressing than ever. This need is also the case with the pallid sturgeon, an endangered fish species fighting for survival in South Dakota and the Missouri River.
Photo Courtesy Hagerty, Ryan/USFWS
The Pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) is a large, bottom-dwelling fish ranging from 30–60 inches long and weighing up to 85 pounds. Historically, the sturgeon could be found throughout the Missouri River and much of the Mississippi River down to New Orleans, Louisiana.
The slow-growing fish are a rare sight for human eyes, preferring to lurk in the murky depths below to feed on small fish and aquatic insects.
On the other hand, dinner plates are not a rare place for pallid sturgeon eggs (caviar) to end up. However, when the species was first listed as endangered under the ESA in 1990, it was because of dams, not caviar or commercial fishing.
Construction of the Oahe Dam began in 1948. Located on the Missouri River northwest of Pierre, South Dakota, the dam achieved final closure — entirely stopping any water from flowing past it — 10 years later. Almost four years after that, its power station went online on Aug. 17, 1962, with President John F. Kennedy there in person to dedicate the dam.
Once finished, the Oahe Dam was the second-largest rolled-earth dam on the planet, and its reservoir the fourth-largest in the U.S. Dams had existed for decades and were not a completely new phenomenon at the time, but the 1950s marked the beginning of what can best be described as a hyperbolic explosion in dam building over the following decades.
Graphic Courtesy Science on the Fly
Modern scientists have access to ample data highlighting just how environmentally devastating dam construction can be to the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems. Advanced metrics and measurements aside, it’s pretty evident why building dams on rivers would be harmful to the fish who live in them, and that’s what happened to the pallid sturgeon. The modification of sturgeon habitat from dam-caused river channelization and changes to water flow have destroyed or drastically limited their spawning zones, reduced access to food sources, and restricted the species’ range by thousands of miles.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) launched a federal pallid sturgeon species recovery plan in 1993, noting that more thorough research was required to determine actionable next steps for the fish.
USFWS released a revised, final recovery plan in 2014. This revised version had enough data and research to recommend a more fleshed-out recovery strategy, including conserving and monitoring specific pallid sturgeon populations in different regions.
While working on the revision, the USFWS found that certain extant wild populations in the Missouri River were declining, which led to the creation of the Pallid Sturgeon Conservation Augmentation Program (PSCAP). That augmentation program is one of many projects initiated over the years to conserve and protect pallid sturgeons, which remain endangered to this day.
Photo Courtesy Billings, Brett/USFWS
One of the most promising conservation efforts began in the form of a three-letter acronym: MOA. In 2001, the USFWS, South Dakota GFP, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers formed an interagency Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to enhance the protection and recovery of four endangered species living along the Missouri River, including the pallid sturgeon. That original five-year MOA has seen its fair share of modifications, alterations, and renewals ever since. However, the core concept — federal and state agencies collaborating to protect endangered aquatic species — remains unchanged.
The outlook for pallid sturgeon is murky, much like their water preference. The species does have at least one feather in its cap (snout? gills?): it has existed on this Earth longer than humankind. How can you not like those odds?
