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sediment while the banks and floodplain are made up mostly of fine sand and silt. In many places, <br />tamarisk, Russian olive and willow line the banks; in addition, banks in many places have been <br />artificially modified by levees and rip-rap. Information on average channel width and depth as well <br />as flows necessary to top the banks within the 15-mile reach is currently being prepared by Van <br />Steeter and Pitlick (University of Colorado). <br />Flows in the 15-mile reach are greatly reduced during the irrigation season (April-October) when <br />two local irrigation systems withdraw large amounts of water from the river. The Grand Valley <br />Canal diversion is immediately upstream of the 15-mile reach; the Government Mghline Canal dam <br />and diversion is located nine miles upstream. Together, they account for a net loss to the 15-mile <br />reach of 1200 to 1600 cfs, depending on the month. These canals have been in operation since <br />before the turn of the century. In addition to this, large dams and transbasin diversions have been <br />built in the headwaters of the Colorado River beginning in the mid-1930's; this has further reduced <br />flows in the 15-mile reach, particularly during the spring runoff period. Changes in the hydrologic <br />regime of the reach since the historic period were described by Osmundson and Kaeding (1991; see <br />Appendix IX). <br />Fish that share the 15-mile reach with the endangered Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker <br />include four other native species and at least 17 non-native, introduced species (Appendix II; Table <br />1). Flannelmouth sucker (Catostomus latipinnis) and bluehead sucker (Catostomus discobolus), <br />both native species, are the most common of the large fish in the reach; red shiner (Cyprinella <br />lutrensis), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) and sand shiner (Notropis stramineus), all non- <br />native species, are the most abundant of the small fishes there (Osmundson and Kaeding 1989; <br />USFWS unpublished data). <br />Summer and Winter Flow Needs <br />Site Selection <br />Eight study sites were selected (Table 1); four in the 15-mile reach (Fig. 2); four in the 18-mile <br />reach. Known concentration areas for one or both species were selected as study sites. Concentra- <br />tion areas for adults were identified using location data from a previous radiotelemetry study (for <br />sites in both the 15- and 18-mile reaches); for larvae and young-of-year Colorado squawfish (18- <br />mile reach), from previous dip-net and seine surveys (data from Osmundson and Kaeding 1989). <br />We felt that specific areas the endangered fish have selected over other areas are most important <br />and were the ones to focus our studies on. This is in contrast to having selected sites on the basis of <br />how representative they are of the reach as a whole as IFIM attempts to do. <br />Our focus on preferred habitat types within reaches selected by the fish follows the hierarchial <br />nature of the habitat selection process described by Johnson (1980). First-order selection is the <br />selection of physical or geographical range of a species (Colorado River basin in this case). Within <br />that range, second-order selection determines the home range of an individual or social group (a <br />particular reach within a particular river) . Third-order selection is the usage made of various <br />components within the home range (mesohabitats). Fourth-order selection, not investigated in this <br />study, is the procurement of food items from those available at the third-order selected sites. <br />7