In Fish Lake Valley, the Rhyolite Ridge Project threatens low water tables already adversely affected by the Silver Peak Mine, which was started in 1864 to mine silver, then gold, salt, potash, and in 1967, lithium. The Rhyolite Ridge project proposes a 960 foot deep open pit mine that will drop below the region’s water table, requiring dewatering (pumping water out) approximately 1.3 billion gallons of water per year to prevent mine flooding; this will draw down the aquifer in the already very dry Silver Peak Range, potentially drying up springs that are important for bighorn sheep and muledeer, but also rare species endemic only to this habitat: rare plant Tecopa Birds Beak (Chloropyron tecopense), petitioned for Endangered Species Act protections; the Fish Lake Valley Tui Chub (Siphateles bicolor ssp. 4), Endangered Species Act listing under review; and Tiehms Buckwheat (Eriogonum tiehmii), listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.