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mining to permit reconnection of the floodplain and the river. The floodplain <br />could then function as it did historically, recreating new in-channel habitats. <br />Some of the features created would be flow-through side channels that might <br />create a complex of habitat types. Another reason for modifying gravel-pits <br />protected by levees and dikes to allow these habitats to communicate with the <br />river during runoff would be flood control. Flood-control management strategies <br />would be to notch levees and dikes to allow inundation of low-lying areas and <br />also reclaim gravel-pit ponds as sloped terraces or side channels. Restoring <br />gravel pits to function as historical terraces or side channels may not only <br />benefit native fishes but may actually provide county, state, and federal <br />agencies more flexibility in managing spring runoff during high - flow years along <br />riparian areas in low-density population areas. Notching old levees and dikes <br />at strategic locations could provide some level of protection from flooding to <br />agricultural land, and residential and recreational structures (i. e., set-back <br />dikes) and also provide access to floodplain habitats to various life stages of <br />endangered fishes, 3) acquiring Hotspot and Pickup ponds, two gravel-pits <br />presently connected to the mainstem Colorado River that are used during spring <br />runoff by adult Colorado squawfish, and investigating opportunities to <br />recontouring and reshaping the bottom of these two ponds to enhance seasonal <br />habitat for endangered fish and eliminate perennial habitat for nonnative fishes, <br />and 4) using deeper depression ponds as grow-out ponds for captive-rearing of <br />endangered fishes. Such ponds could serve as a "half-way house" for captive- <br />reared razorback sucker juveniles from the hatchery-pond environment where they <br />would be reared as family lots until they could be PIT-tagged and stocked into <br />the river. The ponds would have to be drained and the bottoms sloped so that <br />seining or trap nets could be used to concentrate and harvest captive-reared fish <br />for stocking. <br />xi