Oregon's Native Nongame Fishes: A Tale of Diverse Habitats, Endemics, Recovery Success, and Prioritization of Future Research

Oregon has a unique native fish assemblage of approximately 75 taxon representing 19 genera. These species are found in habitats ranging from coastal streams and large river floodplains to small desert springs.  Additionally, they are distributed across a range of land-use types (private and public).  The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Native Fish Investigations Program has evaluated the distribution, abundance, life history, and current threats of some of these fishes. However, most of the focus to date has been on rare and listed species.  Our studies and associated habitat restoration projects by our partners have resulted in several successes to improve the conservation status of listed species.  We will present an overview of these efforts to date. To guide future conservation of non game species, we are developing a model to prioritize nongame fish research based on species life history, rarity, habitat specificity, and environmental vulnerability to disturbance.