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<br />. <br /> <br />Hotchkiss NFH - is in the west central part of Colorado, about 70 miles <br />southeast of Grand Junction. It is on the North Fork of the Gunnison <br />River, but presently receives all of its water from springs. The Gunnison <br />River was part of the historical range of the Colorado squawfish and <br />poss i b ly. the bonyta il chub, but not the humpback chub. <br /> <br />The hatchery consists of two units, the Headquarters and the Chipeta <br />units that occupy 58.5 and 72.8 acres, respectively. The elevation is <br />about 5200 ft. The growing season for agriculture is 140 days. The air <br />temperature ranges from _220 to 1000F and averages 510F for the year. <br /> <br />Production facilities at the Headquarters Unit consist of 32 concrete <br />raceways (16-6'x60', 8-6'x80', 8-6x84') (Figure 3). Two springs (Dowell <br />and Corey springs) supply from 1600 to 4000 gpm to the raceways during <br />the year, with the peak flow occurring in the fall. The water temperature <br />is a constant 560F. The quality of the water is excellent and averages <br />376 mg/l total hardness. Five 20'x90' gravel bottomed raceways have <br />recently been rehabilitated. Other facilities include a hatchery <br />building (24 tanks) with an office, a service building and three resi- <br />dences. the hatchery produces about 1.8 million rainbow trout, weighing <br />86,000 lbs each year for stocking Bureau of Reclamation, Colorado River <br />Storage Project (CRSP) waters. <br /> <br />The Chipeta Unit is about a mile upstream from the Headquarters Unit. <br />The production facilities consist of five, 1-2 ac earthen ponds, eight <br />new concrete raceways (6x60') and two earthen raceways (10'x500', 10'x600') <br />(Figures 4 and 5). Unfortunately, in 1981, a landslide destroyed the <br />new raceways before they were used and inundated a part of the earthen <br />ponds, ruining the water supply lines and making the ponds unuseable. <br /> <br />The earthern ponds and raceways were used primarily for rearing trout. <br />However, two of the ponds served for several years to grow about 100 <br />Colorado squawfish for future broodstock. At the time of the slide <br />these ponds were being used to rear YOY Colorado squawfish (60,000) and <br />juvenile humpback chub (800). Most of these fish were lost. Fish in <br />these ponds had been doing well up to the time of the slide. <br /> <br />The growth of squawfish at the Chipeta Unit has averaged 3 inches per <br />year for sub-adults from 1977-1980. The water temperatures of the ponds <br />ranged from 420 to 840F. However, the temperature of the ponds was <br />lower than it might have been, since the ponds leaked and additional <br />cold water was needed to maintain the water level. This also made it <br />difficult to keep a plankton bloom in the pond. Fry brought in from <br />Willow Beach NFH in late July 1981 only had a month of water temperatures <br />above 680F and only grew.to about 1.5 inches by November. <br /> <br />The Chipeta Unit had nine springs with water collection boxes that <br />supplied 1350 to 2245 gpm. The water right is for the equivalent of <br />4310 gpm (7000 ac-ft/yr). The water temperature ranges from 500 to <br />600F. Although the collection system was destroyed by the slide, the <br />total flow of the springs appears to be undiminished. In addition to <br />