A fish species have outlasted dinosaurs are now being threatened to extinction by a dam in Montana. This "dinosaur fish" is called the pallid sturgeon. After millions of years of survival, there are now only 125 of this endangered species. These fish were once abundant along the Missouri river. This flowed east from Montana and south until it empties into the Mississippi river in Missouri. Pallid Sturgeons would swim up to spawn and their fertilized eggs developed as they drifted down the river. The Intake Diversion Dam in Montana provides water up to 55,000 acres of farmland. However, because of this dam, the sturgeons can't travel far enough up the fragmented rivers to ensure their eggs will make it to a healthy place to develop. They eggs get trapped in reservoirs that include a lot of sediment, bacteria, and very little oxygen. They suffocate and die there. One proposal that was brought up was to replace the Intake Diversion Dam with a new one and create a bypass channel to let the dinosaur fish get passed the dam. However, it was risky to rely on the sturgeons to navigate on their own. A better proposal was to get rid of the damn and replace it with irrigation pumps. It will cost more money but it has a higher rate of success.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/science/pallid-sturgeon-montana-yellowstone-river.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Ftrilobites&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=10&pgtype=collection
https://www.fws.gov/Midwest/endangered/fishes/PallidSturgeon/index.html
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