7165

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7165
• Author: Miller, W. H., H. M. Tyus and C. A. Carlson.
• Title: Fishes of the Upper Colorado River System
• USFW Year: 1982.
• USFW - Doc Type: Present and Future.
• Copyright Material: NO

REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE
ON THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER
SYSTEM AND ITS FISHES
Clarence A. Carlson and Eileen M. Carlson
ABSTRACT
A review of selected literature provides the foundation for this symposium and a background for
those unfamiliar with the Colorado River. The Upper Colorado River System is discussed and its
fishes are introduced by reviewing easily accessible reports. Readers are referred to the
bibliographies of Ecology Consultants, Inc. (1977) and Wydoski et aL (1980) as guides to other
literature.
The Colorado River arises at the headwaters of
the Green River in the Wind River Range in
western Wyoming and among the peaks of the
Rocky Mountains in north-central Colorado. It flows
through or adjacent to seven states and 145 km of
Mexico to the Gulf of California (Frontis.), receiving
major tributaries and losing its waters to major
diversions. Including the Green, the river is about
2,735 km long; it flows over 1,609 km through deep
canyons, including the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Its
basin contains 1112 of the land area of the United
States (Bishop and Porcella 1980). The Colorado
River supplies more water for consumptive use than
any other in the United States but is not on the U.S.
Geological Survey list of 33 rivers with highest
discharge (Pillsbury 1981).
The Colorado River Compact approved by Con-
gress in 1928 divided the basin into approximately
equal upper and lower segments for water-
management purposes. "Lee Ferry," Arizona, defin-
ed as "a point 1 mile downstream from the mouth of
the Paria River," was selected as the dividing point
between the upper and lower basins. Other laws
regulating use of Colorado River water are review-
ed in this symposium by Harris et aL
THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN
The Upper Colorado River Basin extends about
885 km from north to south, is about 563 km from
east to west, and comprises about 283,600 km' of
western Colorado, southwestern Wyoming, eastern
Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and northeastern
Arizona (Iorns et aL1965). Rimmed by some of the
highest mountains in America, it includes the Col-
orado Plateau region and portions of the Middle and
Southern Rocky Mountain and Wyoming Basin
regions described by Hunt (1974). Hunt
(1956,1969,1974) described the geologic history of
the basin and the development of the Colorado
River. The Upper Colorado River Basin has been
sub-divided by several authors into the Green, Up-
per Main-stem Colorado (or Grand), and San Juan (or
San Juan-Colorado) hydrologic sub-basins. The main-
stem Colorado River above the confluence with the
Green was known as the Grand River prior to 1921.
Much of the following descriptive information on the
sub-basins is based on the works of LaRue (1916) and
Iorns et aL (1965).
The Green Sub-basin
The Green Sub-basin has a drainage area of
115,773 km' in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. It ex-
tends from the source of the Colorado's largest
tributary, the Green River, to the confluence of the
Green with the Colorado.
The headwaters of the 805-km4ong Green River
are on the western slopes of the Wind River Range
in western Wyoming at an altitude of almost 4,270 m
(Frontis.). The Green River has been impounded by
Fontenelle Dam in Wyoming and Flaming Gorge
Dam in Utah; both impoundments are participating
projects of the Colorado River Storage Project, built
and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Principal tributaries of the Green River include the
Yampa River, the Duchesne River, the White River,
the Price River, and the San Rafael River.
The Upper Main-stem Colorado Sub-basin
This sub-basin consists of 68,625 km2 in Colorado
and Utah; it contains the Colorado River above its
confluence with the Green. The Colorado River
arises near the eastern slope of Mount Richthofen
on the Continental Divide and flows generally
southwestward for about 480 km to its confluence
with the Green River (Frontis.). Fradkin (1981)
stated that seepage from the Grand Ditch, the first
major conveyor of water from the basin, now is the
source of the Upper Main-stem Colorado River.
Diversion of water out of the Upper Main-stem
Colorado River Sub-basin began in 1880, when Eagle
River headwaters were diverted to the Arkansas
River Basin for placer mining. The Colorado-Big
Thompson Reclamation Project, virtually completed