A tiny, rare fish found only in a handful of creeks around Birmingham is now at the center of a looming federal lawsuit. Three conservation organizations notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday that they intend to sue the agency over its failure to decide whether the Birmingham darter deserves protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Alabama Rivers Alliance and Black Warrior Riverkeeper filed the notice citing the agency's missed deadline, according to AL.com. The groups submitted their original petition seeking protections for the species in November 2025, and under the Endangered Species Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service missed a legally required 90-day deadline to determine whether those protections may be warranted. The agency now has 60 days to respond to the notice and decide whether the darter qualifies for protection, or it could face a lawsuit, the outlet reports.
The Birmingham darter is known to exist in just six populations, all within the Valley Creek system in Jefferson County, per the same report. That narrow range leaves the species especially vulnerable to the pressures closing in around it: industrial pollution, poor water quality and increasing urbanization are all cited as threats facing the fish.
A Species Barely Known to Science
The Birmingham darter is a recent scientific discovery. A research preprint posted to bioRxiv says the species was formally described in April 2025 from Valley Creek and its associated tributaries, waterways that wind through Birmingham and its suburbs. Researchers have since logged additional records in Little Blue Creek, Nabors Branch, Halls Creek and spots along the mainstem of Valley Creek, extending the known range of the fish beyond where it was first identified.
That same preprint delivers a sobering coda: at least one population of the darter is feared extirpated. The paper's authors concluded the species is distributed throughout most of the Valley Creek drainage, and they called for a rapid assessment of its conservation status.
The Center for Biological Diversity's petition, filed November 13, 2025, estimates that likely no more than a few thousand individual Birmingham darters remain. The petition asks the Interior secretary, acting through the Fish and Wildlife Service, to list the species as threatened or endangered, and it requests that critical habitat be designated for the darter at the same time it is listed.
Development Projects Loom Over Habitat
Two major development projects were cited in the release as pressures facing the fish: the proposed Northern Beltline highway project around Birmingham and the proposed Project Marvel hyperscale data center near Bessemer. Laurel Jobe of the Center for Biological Diversity said industrial pollution and hyperscale data center development are degrading the darter's habitat, and that the fish is threatened in almost every part of its current range.
“Every day these darters spend waiting for protections brings them that much closer to extinction,” Jobe said, according to the report. Jobe also said the darters cannot afford to wait for the agency to delay its decision any further.
Nelson Brooke, of Black Warrior Riverkeeper, said water pollution threats to Valley Creek and its tributaries put the darter at risk, and argued that the Fish and Wildlife Service must use the Endangered Species Act to protect rare species from extinction. Charles Miller, policy director at Alabama Rivers Alliance, said the darter's limited range and small population make its endangered status clear, and said the agency must act swiftly given the multiple imminent threats the fish faces.
Watershed Carries a History of Pollution Concerns
Water quality troubles in the Valley Creek watershed are not new. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessment notes that a number of land uses in the watershed have the potential to degrade water quality, pointing specifically to industrial, commercial and residential activity in Upper Valley Creek as adverse influences. A separate U.S. Geological Survey publication on Village and Valley Creeks found that concentrations of pesticides including atrazine, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion have periodically exceeded criteria meant to protect aquatic life.
Efforts to reach Fish and Wildlife Service representatives for comment were not immediately successful, AL.com reported.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Federal Listing Delays
This is not the first time the Center for Biological Diversity has pressed the agency over a stalled Alabama fish listing. In April, the center sued the Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of local environmental groups over protections for the coal darter, a species the agency had proposed listing as threatened back in 2023 without finalizing the decision. According to that lawsuit, the coal darter's range has shrunk from more than 355 river miles to just 189.
A similar standoff played out in California earlier this year, where the Center issued a notice of intent to sue over the federal government's failure to finalize protections for the Clear Lake hitch, a fish the agency had proposed listing as threatened back in January 2025. In that case, per the Press Democrat, the Center gave federal officials a 60-day window to act before pursuing litigation.
