Nine Woven Stars

We’d like to save the planet, but when it comes to individual species, some matter more to us than others. You care that polar bears are having a tough time, or that elephants might not like living in captivity. But with smaller less charming creatures, it can be hard to muster a little sympathy. June suckers aren’t big, and they’re not pretty. They’re homely little fish that have lived here a lot longer than humans have. Utah Lake used to be full of them. They were an important food source for native Americans, and when the Mormon pioneers settled here, they used them to pay their tithing. In the 1980’s they nearly went extinct, but thanks to a decades-long recovery project, there are an estimated 3000 June suckers swimming around. Why should you care? Because homely or not, they’re an important link in the food chain. Restoring the way an ecosystem works is something we can all applaud.