In 1986, the Nashville crayfish was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The natural habitat of the Nashville crayfish is restricted to the 28 miles of Mill Creek and its smaller tributaries. It’s location in Nashville makes the crayfish vulnerable to the effects of water quality deterioration, habitat degradation and risk of chemical spills. 

In November 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to remove the Nashville crayfish from the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife. In October of 2020, they held an online public hearing. The Service has identified making a decision about this delisting on their regulatory agenda for the first half of 2022.

In August of 2021, Southern Environmental Law Center sent a letter on behalf of TSRA and other environmental organizations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bringing attention to how recent climate change research, as well as President Biden’s policies reiterating the importance of science-based decision-making in the face of climate change, further emphasized the need to retain the strongest protections for the Nashville crayfish.