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fluctuated widely throughout the year, they do so in a predictable, cyclic <br />manner. Evolution has allowed the native species of fish there to adapt to <br />and flourish under such fluctuating conditions. Unfortunately, the suc- <br />cessful specialization for life in the.unique environment of the Colorado <br />River has left some species ill-equipped to live or reproduce under the <br />new conditions. Changes in the system have proceeded too rapidly for <br />evolution to allow the species to adjust. However, as manipulation of flow <br />and temperature regimes have acted negatively on the native fish and <br />allowed introduced species to flourish, so too might new, carefully <br />planned manipulations of flow be used to benefit the natives and perhaps <br />aid in controlling the populations of introduced ones. <br />The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is responsible for developing <br />year-round flow recommendations for the aforementioned 15-mile reach of <br />the Colorado River upstream of the confluence of the Gunnison River. <br />Kaeding and Osmundson (1989) recently provided provisional flow recommen- <br />dations for the months of July, August and September. We now continue with <br />this process and here present recommendations for flows during the remain- <br />der of the year (October-June). Methodologies used to arrive at recommen- <br />dations for these months differed from those used previously for the <br />summer months. The reasoning behind our selection of the methods used is <br />outlined in the section entitled 'Rationale for Methodologies' included as <br />Appendix I. The primary difference is the reliance on empirical data for <br />the spring and winter recommendations rather than on the analytical model <br />used in the development of summer flow recommendations. USFWS is currently <br />developing a new method for relating flow-levels to availability of var- <br />ious important habitat types. Recommendations provided in this report and <br />3