Laserfiche WebLink
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />This document amends and supplements the Razorback Sucker Recovery Plan of 1998. The <br />purpose of this document is to describe site-specific management actions/tasks; provide <br />objective, measurable recovery criteria; and provide an estimate of time to achieve recovery of <br />the endangered razorback sucker (Xyrauehen texanus), according to Section 4(f)(1) of the <br />Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Recovery or conservation programs that include <br />the razorback sucker will direct research, management, and monitoring activities and determine <br />costs associated with recovery. <br />Current Species Status: The razorback sucker is listed as endangered under the Endangered <br />Species Act of 1973, as amended. The species is endemic to the Colorado River Basin of the <br />southwestern United States. Adults attain a maximum size of about 1 in total length (TL) and <br />5-6 kg in weight. Remaining wild populations are in serious jeopardy. Razorback sucker are <br />currently found in small numbers in the Green River, upper Colorado River, and San Juan River <br />subbasins; lower Colorado River between Lake Havasu and Davis Dam; reservoirs of Lakes <br />Mead and Mohave; in small tributaries of the Gila River subbasin (Verde River, Salt River, and <br />Fossil Creek); and in local areas under intensive management such as Cibola High Levee Pond, <br />Achii Hanyo Native Fish Facility, and Parker Strip. <br />Habitat Requirements and Limiting Factors: Historically, razorback sucker were widely <br />distributed in warm-water reaches of larger rivers of the Colorado River Basin from Mexico to <br />Wyoming. Habitats required by adults in rivers include deep runs, eddies, backwaters, and <br />flooded off-channel environments in spring; runs and pools often in shallow water associated <br />with submerged sandbars in summer; and low-velocity runs, pools, and eddies in winter. Spring <br />migrations of adult razorback sucker were associated with spawning in historic accounts, and a <br />variety of local and long-distance movements and habitat-use patterns have been documented. <br />Spawning in rivers occurs over bars of cobble, gravel, and sand substrates during spring runoff at <br />widely ranging flows and water temperatures (typically greater than 14°C). Spawning also <br />occurs in reservoirs over rocky shoals and shorelines. Young require nursery environments with <br />quiet, warm, shallow water such as tributary mouths, backwaters, or inundated floodplain <br />habitats in rivers, and coves or shorelines in reservoirs. Threats to the species include <br />streamflow regulation, habitat modification, competition with and predation by nonnative fish <br />species, and pesticides and pollutants. <br />Recovery Objective: Downlisting and Delisting. <br />Recovery Criteria: Objective, measurable criteria for recovery of razorback sucker in the <br />Colorado River Basin are presented for each of two recovery units (i.e., the upper basin, <br />including the Green River, upper Colorado River, and San Juan River subbasins; and the lower <br />basin, including the mainstem and its tributaries from Glen Canyon Dam downstream to the <br />southerly International Boundary with Mexico) because of different recovery or conservation <br />programs and to address unique threats and site-specific management actions/tasks necessary to <br />minimize or remove those threats. Recovery of the species is considered necessary in both the <br />viu