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Razorback refuge ponds to be created with drought-relief funds By Lllas LIndell Deputy Public Affairs Officer Bureau of Reclamation A special appropriation for drought assistance through the U.S, Bureau of Reclamation has made $200,000 available to assist in protecting endan- gered Colorado River fish. In April 1991, President George Bush signed public law 102-27 pro- viding a $25 million appropriation to meet emergency needs for areas affected by drought These funds were added to the Bureau of Reclamation's budget, and the Bureau was designat- ed as the administrative agency, The drought assistance initiative cre- ates opportunities to improve fish and wildlife survival and provide water delivery to wildlife refuges, With the assistance of the U,S, Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau developed a list of high priority projects. . . ... . . . . 1fJ1flifil'inionei Low flows in the Green and Colorado rivers the past several years have adversely affected preferred habitats for native fish, For example, razorback suckers may use flooded bonomlands next to the river to feed and spawn. Because of drought condi- tions, spring flooding has been greatly reduced, Drought, habitat alteration and introduction of non-native fish have been suggested as possible caus- es of the razorback sucker's decline. The Bureau has received $200,000 to develop a refuge facility in Horsethief Canyon near Grand Junction, Colo, The Colorado Di vision of Wildlife will provide $30,000 for the project. Creation of the refuge ponds will allow preservation of the species until enhanced habitat and flow conditions are achieved, "The purpose of the ponds is to cre- ate a protected environment to pre- serve gene pools of endangered fish from the Colorado, White, Yampa and Green rivers," said Colorado Division of Wildlife Biologist Bill Elrnblad, "If the fish go extinct in any of these rivers, at least we 'U havc a 'backup' population in the ponds," In December, heads of the three agencies signed an agreement to maintain the project for the next 25 years , The present proposal calls for four three-quarter acre ponds and a water delivery system, The ponds will be used to develop refuge populations and brood stock for endangered fish, emphasizing the razorback sucker, No wild adult razorback suckers were captured in the Colorado River in 1990 or 1991, although 18 adults were captured in off-river gravel pit ponds, From SQUAWFISH, Page 2 Restoring Grand Valley flows is recovery program priority River below the Colorado/Utah state line, biologists captured more squaw- fish than in any previous year, Most of the fish were less than 7 years old, "The population of adult squawfish (in the Colorado River) is reproduc- ing," said U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Doug Osmundson, "If the adult population is declining, it appears to be at a very gradual rate." But Osmundson stressed that the Colorado River population still is small, only about one-fifth the size of the Green River squawfish population, Biologists were able to find more fish this year because they spent more time looking and used better methods, Osmundson said, Their survey extend- ed from Palisade, Colo" to the Green River confluenee. After the fish were weighed and measured, they were released back to the river unhanned. Nearly half of the adult squawfish were captured in a IS-mile stretch of the Colorado River between Palisade and Grand Junction, Colo. 'The survey shows that this IS-mile reach of river clearly is important habi- tat for adult Colorado squawfish," said 3 John Hamill, director of the Recovery Program for Endangered Fish of the Upper Colorado River Basin, "This section is highly impacted by irriga- tion diversions in the Grand Yalley (near Grand Junction), There is not enough water in the river during the summer months." For that reason, aequiring water rights for this section is a high priority for the Recovery Program, Hamill said, "Our goal is to supplement existing flows in the 'IS-mile reach' of the Colorado and get as close to 700 cubic feet per second as possible," he said, The current August-to-October aver- age there is 250 to 500 CFS, Progress is being made, Hamill said. The Colorado Water Conser- vation Board has filed a preliminary notice to appropriate an in-stream flow right of 581 cubic feet per second for the IS-mile reach, Also, the water board, Bureau of Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife Service worked together last year to provide a release of 10,000 additional acre-feet from Ruedi Reservoir for endangered fish, Nonh America's largest minnow, Colorado squawfish were called "white salmon" by early settlers,