8192

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8192
• Author: Wydoski, D.
• Title: Review of Report Regarding Evaluation of Gravel-Pit Ponds.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

conditions in permitting by federal agencies involved in reclaiming gravel pits.
Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to evaluate two different-shaped
ponds, both connected to the ri ver in the same general stream reach, by compari ng
seasonal use by native and nonnative fish.

The specific objectives of this study were to:

1. compare seasonal fish use (species composition and relative densities)
of nonnative and native fishes in two ponds adjacent to each other
that are both connected to the rivero-one that holds water year-round
and one that is slightly graded toward the mainstem river and contains
water only seasonally,

2. determine the shape of the pond that will benefit endangered and other
native fishes and reduce or eliminate nonnative fish that are believed
to adversely impact endangered fishes, and

3. determine if a gravel.pit pond gently graded toward the mainstem river
will adequately fill during spring high flows and drain during
recession of flows in the summer.

SlllDY AREA

Gardner and Hotspot ponds are wi thi n 100 yards of each other and are in the
10-year floodplain of the Upper Colorado River between Palisade and Grand
Junction, Colorado ("IS-Mile Reach"), at river mile 174--4 (Section 20, Township
IS Range IE, 6th P .'M.: Fi gure 1), The ponds can be reached by travel i ng to the
end of Mesa County Road 29-5/8 on the north side of the Colorado River. Gardner
Pond is the larger of the two gravel-pit ponds with a surface area of
approximately'7.4 acres, an average depth of about 5.5 feet, and a maximum depth
of 15 feet (Figure 3). The Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division
of Parks and Outdoor Recreation (CDPOR), owns the 1 and. Hotspot Pond is
connected to the river, privately owned, and is located immediately north of
Gardner Pond. It has a total surface area of 5.1 acres, an average depth of
about 3 feet, and is connected to the mainstem ri ver. The Grand Junction
Drainage District has an easement to maintain two drainage ditches, one that runs
east of the site and one between the two ponds. Dominant vegetation around these
two ponds consists of Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) and tamarisk.

The river reach adjacent to the study site is important historical habitat
for both the razorback sucker and Colorado squawfi sh. The area has been
identified as occupied habitat and was designated critical habitat for both
razorback sucker and Colorado squawfish by the FWS (effective 20 April 1994;
Federa 1 Regi ster , Vol. 59, No. 54, 21 March 1994) under authori ty of the
Endangered Species Act (FWS 1973). Various researchers (Holden and Stalnaker
1975: Valdez et al. 1982) documented the historic use of this area by adult
Co 1 orado squawfi sh and razorback sucker. Osmundson and Kaedi ng (1989) documented
extensive use of the various habitat complexes in the area by adult Colorado
squawfish that were created following the high water years of 1983 and 1984.

4