A tributary of the Colorado River, the Virgin River originates in Southwestern Utah with the confluence of the East Fork Virgin and the North Fork Virgin Rivers. The snow pack of the river’s surrounding mountains annually replenishes the river. It flows out of Dixie National Forest, through Zion National Park, past the city of St. George and continues for a total of approximately 160 miles before emptying into the Colorado River at the Lake Mead reservoir, about forty miles east of Las Vegas. In 2009, the North Fork of the Virgin River was designated as Wild and Scenic. The river flows through a landscape where the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert meet. Although the Virgin River flows through an extremely arid region, it directly supports hundreds of species, some of which are found nowhere else on earth. A number of these species are considered sensitive or endangered, such as the Virgin River chub, Virgin spinedace, flannelmouth sucker, desert sucker, speckled dace, and relict leopard frog. Two key Virgin River species on the endangered list are the woundfin and the southwestern willow flycatcher.

Named for the spine on its sharply pointed dorsal fin, the woundfin is one of the rarest and most specialized minnows in the world, being highly adapted for living in shallow, swift, silty desert streams. Woundfins are slender and small, rarely exceeding 3” in length; their narrowly flattened heads and bellies give them a torpedo-like appearance. They are silvery-blue with le athery skin instead of scales, and have distinctive barbells on the corners of their lips. Woundfins are omnivorous, relying on a diet of seeds, insects, algae, and general detritus. The woundfin is scientifically important because it is the only species in its genus.

The southwestern willow flycatcher is one of four (possibly five) subspecies of flycatchers differentiated by their breeding range. The southwestern willow flycatcher is a small bird, generally no more than 6” in length, and is distinguished by its unique “sneezy fitza-bew” song. The flycatcher nests in trees and thickets in dense riparian habitats with surface water or saturated soil; areas that don’t meet this requirement may still be used for foraging and migration. The willow flycatcher is heavily dependent on the availability of highquality water, in large part to support the trees and thickets that provide safe refuge for nesting. The flycatcher feeds on insects, which benefits humans by reducing exposure to vector-borne diseases, and protects many plant species that would otherwise be harmed by insect populations.

Water in the Balance

Both the woundfin and the southwestern yellow flycatcher depend on the riparian habitat of the Virgin River. Flows in this river were largely designated for residential and agricultural use by 1910; currently there are substantial political barriers to providing river flows necessary to restore the health of the Virgin River to allow these species to recover and thrive. Water overconsumption, increasing residential and commercial development, and agriculture all command enormous amounts of water from the river, and drought heightened by global climate change further drains the river and degrades the habitat required by the woundfin and willow flycatcher.

The woundfin avoids clear waters, instead preferring warm, cloudy, shallow streams. Rarely found in quiet pools, they require fast-moving water and can tolerate mineralized waters relatively well. The southwestern willow flycatcher depends on clean and abundant water, both in breeding habitats in the United States and in the tropical rainforests where it winters.