River fish & wildlife facts:

Fully 80% of all vertebrate wildlife in the Southwest depend on riparian areas for at least half of their life. Of the 1200 species listed as threatened or endangered, 50% depend on rivers and streams. At least 123 freshwater species became extinct during the 20th century. These include 79 invertebrates, 40 fishes, and 4 amphibians. (There may well have been other species that were never identified.) Freshwater animals are disappearing five times faster than land animals. In the Pacific Northwest, over 100 stocks and subspecies of salmon and trout have gone extinct and another 200 are at risk due to a host of factors, dams and the loss of riparian habitat being prime factors.

(source: National Park Service)