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Oregon's Grand Canyon is home to a couple of endangered snails
The Owyhee River and West Little Owyhee River. Owyhee Canyonlands in Malheur County. (Friends of the Owyhee / KOIN)
The Center for Biological Diversity filed petitions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protections for two snails that live in an eastern Oregon region where the Owyhee River runs through the Owhyee Canyonlands, a.k.a. Oregon's Grand Canyon.
The two snails are hot springsnail (Pyrgulopsis fresti) and Owyhee upland pyrg (Pyrgulopsis owyheensis). Both snails are threatened by habitat destruction from livestock grazing, recreation, invasive species and a warming climate that alters the snails’ sensitive spring habitat.
Camila Cossio, who serves as a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, joins the Exchange to shed more light on the issue.
Freshwater snails are some of the most imperiled species in the United States. Already 67 species have gone extinct, and more than 450 species are at risk — 64% of all freshwater snail species — reflecting the degree to which people have damaged the waters that all living beings need to survive. Protecting these snails would also protect the Owyhee River in Oregon’s high desert, the Center notes.
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By Mike GreenThe Owyhee River and West Little Owyhee River. Owyhee Canyonlands in Malheur County. (Friends of the Owyhee / KOIN)
The Center for Biological Diversity filed petitions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protections for two snails that live in an eastern Oregon region where the Owyhee River runs through the Owhyee Canyonlands, a.k.a. Oregon's Grand Canyon.
The two snails are hot springsnail (Pyrgulopsis fresti) and Owyhee upland pyrg (Pyrgulopsis owyheensis). Both snails are threatened by habitat destruction from livestock grazing, recreation, invasive species and a warming climate that alters the snails’ sensitive spring habitat.
Camila Cossio, who serves as a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, joins the Exchange to shed more light on the issue.
Freshwater snails are some of the most imperiled species in the United States. Already 67 species have gone extinct, and more than 450 species are at risk — 64% of all freshwater snail species — reflecting the degree to which people have damaged the waters that all living beings need to survive. Protecting these snails would also protect the Owyhee River in Oregon’s high desert, the Center notes.