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Back from the brink: Eglin celebrates darter population growth (VIDEO, PHOTOS, DOCUMENT)
EGLIN AFB — Federal, state and local leaders got a firsthand look at the rebounding Okaloosa darter on Monday as they toured habitats across the reservation.
Officials from the Air Force, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rode buses out to Range Road 231 to view some of the anti-erosion methods that have helped downgrade the tiny fish from endangered to threatened.
They later celebrated the milestone with an official ceremony hosted by the Air Armament Museum.
“It’s not often that we get to bring a species back from the brink of extinction, but that’s exactly what’s happening here today,” said Terry Yonkers, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, during the ceremony.
The fish, which grows to 1 to 2 inches long, is found only in six stream systems on Eglin land. It was first classified as an endangered species in 1973.
In 1993, the darter’s numbers had dwindled to as low as 1,500, but today the darter population has grown to more than 900,000.
Rowan Gould, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told the audience the darter’s progress has affected more than just one species.
“It also enhances the habitats of other species like mayflies and crayfish,” he said. “It means clean water. It means a better downstream environment for all the other critters.”
Gould said the darter’s progress is the result of diligent research and monitoring by the many scientists within the government and Loyola University in New Orleans. Also involved in the project were the U.S. Geological Survey and Three Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Council.
“Good science leads to good decisions,” he said, adding that the government must continue to fight threats to the darter’s habitat. “Ultimately, we want to recover the species.”
Col. Sal Nodjomian, commander of the 96th Air Base Wing, praised the work of the men and women in the Jackson Guard, Eglin’s environmental branch.
“You literally have made environmental history,” he said.
The darter’s reclassification marks the first time a vertebrate species’ endangered status has been downgraded on a military base.
