The Oklahoma Cave Crayfish (Cambarus tartarus) in a Delaware County, Oklahoma, cave stream.

The Oklahoma Cave Crayfish (Cambarus tartarus) is listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species is only known from the subterranean waters of three cave systems in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Why should you care about a crayfish that lives in groundwater? Careful management of groundwater resources will benefit both wildlife and humans. For example, contamination and over-harvest of groundwater threaten both cave crayfish and humans living on the surface. Around the globe, groundwater is often harvested faster than rainfall can replace it. Further, the health of groundwater wildlife populations will reflect the quality of the groundwater in which they live. Careful monitoring of groundwater wildlife populations can tell us much about subterranean waters and contaminants therein. Management of groundwater as a renewable resource is an important point considering that roughly 50% of all Americans now rely directly on groundwater for their freshwater needs. Let’s protect our groundwater resources... for our children and for the wildlife living there. This individual was photographed on the Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge while working with officials from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.