Residents of the foothills and Mount Lemmon aren’t the only ones who have been chased from their homes by the Bighorn Fire.

A team of biologists staged an endangered fish rescue in Sabino Canyon on Sunday to save almost 900 Gila Chubs from potential disaster. The aquatic evacuees were transplanted into man-made habitats around the Tucson area, just in case their native waters get fouled with ash and debris from the burned area above.

A Chinook helicopter drops water on a ridge above Pima Canyon in Coronado National Forest during the Bighorn Fire on June 10, 2020. Video by Rick Wiley / Arizona Daily Star

“This should really provide some security for that fish population,” said Karen Simms, natural resources division manager for Pima County. “It was preventative action that was taken very rapidly.”

The effort was spearheaded by Nathan Berg, aquatic wildlife program manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson.

On Friday afternoon, as the wildfire continued to spread, Berg sent an email to colleagues at Game and Fish, Pima County, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggesting a “potential fish salvage” in Sabino Canyon.

By late Sunday morning, a crew was assembled to scoop up some of the endangered fish from Sabino Creek and transport them to safety. Simms said they concentrated on collecting the smaller, younger fish.

About half of them — 420 or so — were released Sunday into a pond at Agua Caliente Park. The rest were divided among the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the International Wildlife Museum and the fisheries lab at the University of Arizona, which each received about 150 chubs.

Simms said the timing was perfect. “We had just finished our pond restoration project.”

The work at the eastside park, on Soldier Trail and East Roger Road, began in October and wrapped up in mid April.

Simms said a few longfin dace — native but not endangered — were first introduced to the pond to make sure the conditions were right. Then last month, 750 Gila topminnow were released there to keep mosquitoes at bay and establish a reserve population of the federally protected fish.

Simms said the county was already hoping to add some Gila chub to the pond this fall. The Bighorn Fire simply accelerated those plans.

The small-finned, dark-colored minnow was once the most abundant fish in the Gila River watershed in Arizona and New Mexico, but water diversions and overgrazing left the chub with just 15% of its historic habitat.

The fish, which grows to between 6 and 9 inches long, now lives in a few dozen isolated pockets, with no means of escape from drought or a sudden flood of suffocating wildfire ash and debris.

The Gila chub was added to the endangered species list in 2005, after years of litigation brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based environmental group.

As part of the listing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated roughly 160 miles of waterways as critical habitat, including Sabino Creek.

Sunday’s rescue operation came as a relief to Joshua Taiz, wildlife staff officer for the Forest Service’s Santa Catalina Ranger District.

“I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you all pulled this together so quickly and efficiently,” Taiz said in an email to the group on Monday. “Time will tell, but at least we have these fish out of harm’s way when the rains finally come to the watershed.”

Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@tucson.com or 520-573 4283. On Twitter: @RefriedBrean