Okaloosa darter to be reclassified from endangered to threatened

EGLIN AFB — The tiny Okaloosa darter that makes its home in the streams on Air Force property has been downlisted from an endangered to a threatened species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday announced its intent to reclassify the fish under the Endangered Species Act.

“I thought it would happen because Eglin has a very robust monitoring system,” said Steve Seiber, chief of natural resources with Jackson Guard, Eglin’s environmental division. “This task is really a team effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Air Force.”

Fish and Wildlife officials said the reclassifying is appropriate because the darter has made significant strides toward recovery.

“Resource management on Eglin Air Force Base has significantly reduced the threat of habitat destruction,” Cindy Dohner, the agency’s southeast regional director, said in a news release. “Given this reduction in threats and the large and increasing populations in the majority of the Okaloosa darter’s habitat, the service has determined the species is no longer in danger of extinction.”

The darter, which grows to only 1 to 2 inches long, was listed as endangered in 1973. It is found in only six stream systems draining into bayous in Walton and Okaloosa counties.

Most of the watershed is under Eglin’s management. The rest of the watershed and the species’ range are in Niceville and Valparaiso, according to Fish and Wildlife officials.

The base has worked to improve the darter habitats since 1993, Seiber said.

The reservation has many clay roads that erode into streams during heavy rains, said Eglin spokesman Mike Spaits. That has been a major factor in the darter’s endangered status.

“Basically, (the sediment) was smothering their habitat,” Spaits said. “When it ran off into the streams, that load would smother that darter.”

Detering the erosion was a big job.

“We used a lot of berm techniques,” Seiber said. “We would take these huge gulleys and fill them in. We used as much native vegetation as we possibly could.”

When Eglin started its program, an estimated 62,000 to 63,000 tons of sediment was entering streams each year. Today, the amount is less than 1,000 tons, Seiber said.

Other methods used to improve the darter habitat have included eliminating barriers that have kept the darter from traveling from stream to stream.

“You have a culvert that may be too small or it may be placed too high, and it creates ponding,” Seiber said. “The darter can’t make (through) because it’s so small. We’ve been changing out a lot of these culverts.”

Eglin also restored about 2,500 feet of Mill Creek on the base’s golf course with the help of the FWC and students from the Young Women’s Leadership School of Harlem in New York City. Darters were found swimming in the stream within weeks of the project’s completion.

Eglin’s latest project is to remove the Anderson Pond dam and restoring stream connectivity. The project will include the design and construction of 3,000 feet of stream channel and a floodplain to help maintain the darter’s habitat.

Seiber said the efforts are crucial to Eglin’s overall mission. Ensuring a healthy habitat can provide flexibility when ground training becomes an issue, he noted.

“The healthier we can make this environment,” the better off the base’s mission, he said.

The public can comment on the darter’s proposed reclassification for the next 60 days.

Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Bill Tate said he expects the darter’s threatened stature to become official in October.