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0 <br />C <br />D <br />D <br />b <br />these flows on razorback sucker populations. Levees in river reaches targeted <br />for restoration should be modified to allow fish access during the spring. <br />Future levee construction in river reaches important to razorback sucker <br />recovery should be discouraged. <br />Potential reaches for experimental stocking include the 15- and 18-mile <br />reaches of the greater Grand Valley, the Rifle to Debeque reach on the <br />Colorado River and a 10-mile river reach on the Gunnison River near Delta <br />(Figure 3). Consideration should be made to screen the diversion-canal int <br />at Government Highline Diversion and Redlands Diversion Dam to prevent <br />entrainment of stocked fish into the irrigation canals. <br />Valdez et al. (1982) considered the Grand Valley region of the upper <br />Colorado and Gunnison rivers to be very important habitat for razorback sucker <br />in the early 1980's. Osmundson and Kaeding (1991) believed the '15-mile' <br />reach of the Colorado River in the Grand Valley to be a concentration area for <br />razorback sucker and one of the most important stretches of the upper Colorado <br />River for this fish in the past. Historically, razorback sucker were abundant <br />in most of the Gunnison River (Jordan 1891; Jordan and EvPrmann 1896)., but are <br />extremely rare there now. Razorback sucker were common as recently as the <br />1950's based on catches made by a mink farmer in the Delta area (Wiltzius <br />1978). However, only one razorback sucker was collected in the 1970's <br />(Wiltzius 1978). The last capture of a razorback sucker in the Gunnison River <br />was documented by Holden et al. (1981). They captured four adult razorbacks <br />between Escalante Creek (river mile 42) and river mile 54 downstream of Delta <br />in May and June 1981. <br />Two adult razorback sucker were collected in 1981 near the town of <br />Parachute, Colorado (Valdez et al. 1982). A young (21.5 mm TL) sucker <br />21 <br />