Native fish diversity is tightly connected to the quality of aquatic habitats in any river or stream. To measure aquatic health in the Verde River Watershed, we used native fish species richness.
How is it scored?
For the 2025 Report Card update, the Fish indicator was changed to Native Fish indicator. The updated methodology focuses on the presence of native fish surveyed in each region. The 2020 were updated to reflect this change in methodology.
The Verde River Watershed was home to 11 different native fish species that were common in the Verde River and its tributaries as recently as the 20th century. Due to anthropogenic threats, including but not limited to the introduction of invasive species, habitat degradation, pollution, and low flows due to overuse of groundwater and surface water, several native fish species have since struggled to persist. Scores are based on the percent of historical native fish species that were found during surveys within each region. It should be noted that the number and extent of surveys varied across regions, which can also affect the number of native species found in each region and the resulting scores.