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piscivorous fish species that inhabit backwater habitats year-round. The omnivorous <br />channel catfish ktaluras punctatus is ubiquitous throughout main-channel habitats of the <br />upper Colorado River and is commonly found in flooded backwaters during spring <br />runoff (Osmundson 2002) and sometimes occurs in fall seine surveys of backwaters <br />(McAda et al. 1994); however, only large channel catfish are believed piscivorous (Tyus <br />and Nikirk 1990). To date, non-native northern pike Esox lucius, smallmouth bass <br />Micropterus dolomieui, and black crappie remain relatively rare, being captured only <br />sporadically during various sampling efforts (USFWS unpublished data). <br />The most likely place for young Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker to <br />come in contact with non-native, predacious fish is in backwaters year-round and in <br />flooded ponds and bottomlands during spring runoff. Colorado pikeminnow YOY first <br />appear in backwaters in July or August of the year they are hatched and may remain in <br />these habitats through the following June. In July, larvae of a new year-class move into <br />the backwaters as most one-year-old pikeminnow presumably move to other habitats <br />(USFWS unpublished data). Hence, backwaters are used year-round by various sizes (8- <br />110 mm TL) of age-0 Colorado pikeminnow. There has been a decline in numbers of <br />young Colorado pikeminnow in upstream reaches of the Colorado River (Westwater <br />Canyon, Utah, to Grand Junction, Colorado) during the past decade: capture rates have <br />been very low in recent years compared to those in the late 1970's to mid-1980's (Haynes <br />et al. 1984, Osmundson and Kaeding 1989, McAda and Kaeding 1991, McAda et al. <br />1994, Osmundson and Burnham 1998). <br />Mean catch rates of largemouth bass and green sunfish in fall seine surveys in the <br />upper Colorado River have been highest in the reach upstream of Westwater Canyon <br />(McAda et al. 1994). The source of these centrarchids is unknown, but reproduction <br />might occur in both off-channel ponds connected to the main channel via irrigation <br />returns as well as in the backwaters themselves. Chemical treatment of ponds, <br />recommended by Tyus and Saunders (1996), has been conducted in the Grand Valley by <br />the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) as part of Recovery Program activities (Anita <br />Martinez, CDOW, personal communication). While this approach was being tested as a <br />means to reduce potential non-native fish immigration, the project summarized here was <br />3