Laserfiche WebLink
al. 1982) failed to detect any Colorado pikeminnow in these upstream reaches. More <br />recently, electrofishing surveys in the 1990's by CDOW (Anderson 1997) and USFWS <br />(Wydoski 1994, Osmundson 1999, R. Burdick, unpublished data) also found none. One <br />anecdotal observation from the 1960s appears to have merit; another probably does not. <br />Robert Burdick, a USFWS biologist who has captured many Colorado pikeminnow during <br />his professional career remembers his grandfather and he catching several Colorado <br />pikeminnow in the lower end of Plateau Creek while angling for trout in the mid-1960s. <br />The only other known observation is less reliable. Pressey (1968), a writer for a popular <br />outdoors magazine, provided an account of an angling trip upstream of Glenwood Springs <br />in 1963 during which he caught a fish he could not immediately identify; he later concluded <br />the fish must have been a Colorado pikeminnow: <br />"I was shocked to see a nearly black fish of about 15 inches" (380 mm) "that <br />possessed cross-hatched scales of small size." "...The mouth of the fish was <br />more toward the bottom of the head like a sucker, but still possessed the <br />mandible-like action of a trout or bass." <br />The far upstream location of this observation (well within cold-water, salmonid habitat) and <br />the author's description suggests a misidentification; however, as with other anecdotal <br />information, readers are encouraged to judge for themselves the validity of such accounts. <br />Analysis of temperature regime suitability for Colorado pikeminnow indicates that <br />individuals of this species are likely to establish year-round home ranges in the Colorado <br />River as far upstream as De Beque, Colorado, if given the opportunity. Also, limited use by <br />Colorado pikeminnow in reaches upstream of De Beque is anticipated (Osmundson 1999) <br />based on observations of Colorado pikeminnow distribution in the Yampa (Kesler 1995) <br />and Gunnison (Burdick 1995) rivers. Critical habitat for Colorado pikeminnow in the <br />Colorado River extends upstream to Rifle, Colorado (USFWS 1994). <br />General Approach <br />Because no individuals of either species have been recently found in riverine habitats <br />upstream of the Price-Stubb Dam, no habitat use data are available that might provide