8174

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8174
• Author: Martinez, P. J.
• Title: West Slope Warmwater Fisheries.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

Other key questions posed by anglers and angler's groups in public meetings included "on what .
timeframe did CDOW plan to construct: berms around selected public floodplain ponds as described in the
Procedures?" Three sites listed in the Procedures, Corn, Duke and Connected (upper and lower) lakes are
gravel pit ponds that presently provide angling recreation for various warmwater sport fish, but are known to
lie within the 50 year floodplain of Critical Habitat. Lacking estimates of the potential cost of such
structures, little feedback could be given in response to these inquiries. Also, there was some concern among
anglers and the. Wildlife Commission about the costs of warmwater fishery management options for private
ponds within the 50 year floodplain given the requirements for berms to be high enough to resist a 50-year
flood event and to meeting Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) construction specifications (Appendix A).
METHODS
A summary of policieslagreements/position papers pertaining to persistent questions about CDOW s
involvement and expenditures in management and recovery activities for non-sport, native fishes was
prepared for discussion with anglers and other citizens. This information was provided and explained at
several meetings including NEPA public input meetings, Angler's Roundtables, and CROW Area meetings.
A summary of regulations required to enforce the provisions of the Procedures was prepared and
discussed at a Colorado Wildlife Commission workshop held in Gunnison, Colorado, 8 August 1996. Also, I
prepared draft regulations for implementing and enforcing the Procedures during this segment. These
discussions and regulations were needed to clarify the need to enforce the contingent in the Procedures that
waters must be demonstrably "isolated" before stocking of selected fish species could be approved. The
geographic extent of these draft regulations was based on the Critical Habitat designations and justifications
for Colorado squawfish published in the Federal Register (Federal Register 1994).
To expand the list of species for which evaluation criteria and ratings existed for use in the model A
Low Effort System for Planned Coolwater and Coldwater Reservoirs (McConnell et al. 1984), a panel of
experts met several times during the winter of 1996-1997 to discuss literature, personal experience and
expert opinions pertaining to the performance of northern pike, channel catfish (reproducing and stocked),
smalhnouth bass and largemouth bass in coolwater and Coldwater reservoirs. The expert participants
included Dr. Eric Bergersen of the Colorado Cooperative Fishery and Wildlife Research Unit at CSU, who
served as coordinator for the effort, Dr. Steve Flickinger of CSU, James Terrell of the U.S. Geological Survey
Biological Branch, Greg Langer of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, and myself. James Terrell (the original
project officer for the model's development) reviewed the groups ratings for each species as they were
developed and coordinated the computer summarization for the model.
In the application of the model, water temperature, mineral turbidity, nonliving cover, extent and
timing of drawdown, and frequency of shallow coves represent five "primary" attributes (McConnell et al.
1984). Each primary attribute is scored based on two or more secondary attributes. A five-digit number,
resulting from the score assigned to each of the five primary attributes, provides a description of the reservoir.
In the case of the temperature score, there are three species groups, warmwater, coolwater and Coldwater
fishes. Each of the three species-temperature groups has an "option' within the model that must be identified
before proceeding with the development of the five-digit, reservoir description (McConnell et al. 1984). The
resulting five-digit scores are located in the list of "habitat suitability" values generated for each species by
the expert panel (Appendix D). These values rank the reservoirs suitability for each species individually as
"high", high-medium", "low-medium" and "low" (McConnell et al. 1984). Northern pike was considered to
be a coolwater species while channel catfish, smalknouth bass and largemouth bass were evaluated as
warmwater species.
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