Laserfiche WebLink
40 <br />30 <br />0 <br />N <br />L <br />20 <br />U <br />W <br />¦¦ <br />10 <br />0 <br />Discharge (cfs x 1000) <br />Figure 4. Cumulative area of eight major mesohabitat types at 12 discharge levels in a 3.2- <br />km-long study area near Parachute, Colorado, 1983. Data from Ecosystem Research <br />Institute (1983) and Carter et al. (1985). <br />weighted total area of both summer and winter preferred habitat was more than 10 times <br />that provided at 3,840 cfs. <br />Creation and Maintenance of Nursery Habitat Backwaters <br />The primary Colorado pikeminnow nursery area in the Colorado River is the 103- <br />km (64-mile) reach downstream of Moab, Utah (McAda et al. 1994). Backwaters there are <br />formed by a different process than backwaters in the upper river. Most backwaters in the <br />upper river result from water backing into the downstream ends of side channels that have <br />gone dry on the upstream end. In contrast, most backwaters in the lower river result from <br />water backing into depressions in sand bars. Backwater depressions are created by scour <br />channels and migrating sand waves (Rakowski and Schmidt 1997). Scour channels are <br />formed by the erosion/deposition cycle of small channels behind large alternating sand bars. <br />24 <br />0 5 10 15 20 25