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<br />as barriers to movement between runs and pools. Each subject area will be presented in a <br />separate chapter. <br /> <br />STUDY AREA <br /> <br />The study area includes the lower 135 miles ofthe Yampa River (Figure 1). The lower 58 <br />miles, with the exception of Lily Park, is a canyon-bound river reach characterized by high <br />gradient and variable substrate size. The lower 47 river miles of this reach are located within <br />Dinosaur National Monument. The upper reach of the study area is characterized by a lower <br />gradient and floodplain (except Juniper Canyon) adjacent to the river. For logistical reasons, the <br />study area was divided into two reaches, from its confluence with the Green River to Cross <br />Mountain Canyon (River Mile - RM 58), and from Cross Mountain Canyon to near the city of <br />Craig (RM 135). Data collection in the lower portion of the study area was conducted by the U.S. <br />Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Division of Wildlife supervised data collection in the <br />upper reach. <br /> <br />The annual flow ofthe Yampa River is approximately 1.2 million acre feet of water per <br />year, of which about 28% is contributed by the Little Snake River (Tyus and Karp 1989). <br />Bankfull flow, defined as the channel forming flow, usually has a recurrence interval of about 1.5 <br />years (Gordon et al. 1992) but may be on the order of one in five years for arid southwestern <br />rivers such as the Yampa River. The 1.5 year peaks flow on the Yampa River at Maybell (above <br />confluence of the Little Snake River) is 8,440 cfs. The two, five, 10, and 50 year flood peaks are <br />9,940, 12,340, 14,300, and 20,000 cfs respectively. Currently, approximately 110,000 acre feet <br />of water per year is depleted for out-of-river-use, which represents about 10% of the flow at <br />Maybell (Hydrosphere 1995). During the median flow year above Maybell, flows range from a <br />low of about 200 cfs to a peak of nearly 7,000 cfs (Figure 2). The lowest flow typically occurs in <br />September, a time with dry natural conditions and high demand for water diversion (Figure 3). <br />F or the period of record (1916 to 1996), halfthe years had a minimum flow above 174 cfs, 80% <br />had a minimum flow of above 81 cfs, and 20% had a minimum flow of more than 320 cfs <br />(Figure 3). Historically, one in five years has minimum flows less than 95 cfs. Flows in 1994 <br />were very low, dropping to a minimum of 8 cfs in September and remaining under 100 cfs until <br />early October (Figure 4). In contrast 1995 was a high flow year and maintained higher than <br />average flows in August and September (Figure 5). The 1996 flow year was above normal in the <br />spring, but dropped to fairly low conditions during August and September (Figure 6). <br /> <br />CHAPTER 1: RADIO TELEMETRY <br /> <br />Methods <br /> <br />Radio telemetry monitoring was designed to provide information on range of movement <br />during the low flow period, specific habitat use during the low flow period, and daily habitat use <br />and movement for Colorado squawfish and humpback chub. Northern pike and <br /> <br />7 <br />