Private Idaho

A new species of fairy shrimp have been discovered in Idaho vernal pools. Hooray!

Of course, my favorite endangered species is the ridiculously-endangered Socorro Isopod, which used to live only in a pipe between a hot spring and a pool, just outside Socorro, NM, where I once went to school (at NM Tech). The pipe was laid in ignorance of the existence of the Isopod. It's a miracle that the species wasn't inadvertently wiped out. The water was too hot at one end of the pipe, and too cool at the other end, so the end point of millions of years of evolution was that the Socorro Isopod was basically trapped in this pipe.

In the early 80's, people became aware of the existence of the Socorro Isopod. I even had a "Save the Socorro Isopod" T-Shirt at one point, when I was attending the Univ. of AZ, in Tucson. I once met an Isopod expert while getting on an elevator there, because he saw my T-Shirt. Surprisingly, the expert hadn't yet heard of the Socorro species!

In 1988, roots blocked the hot springs, wiping the Socorro Isopod out in the wild. Fortunately, a captive breeding program saved the Isopod from annihilation. For a while, anyway.... The Socorro Isopod is apparently cannibalistic - a real problem in a captive breeding program - so just keeping the Socorro Isopod alive on this Earth is a real challenge. If accidents of nature or mankind aren't at hand, the Socorro Isopod is fully capable of generating its own brink-of-disaster drama.

Habitat for endangered species has to be maintained, and expanded, if possible. There's the recent example of the Baker's larkspur, which lives in just one place in Marin County, and which was backhoed out of existence - maybe completely - in an effort to clear a clogged drain.

Hope the Idaho fairy shrimp have an easier time propagating the species!