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INTRODUCTION The i1e River is a tributary to the Green River in the Upper Colorado River Basin.' The river drains over 5000 mil (13,000 km2) of Utah and Colorado. luventy-two mi (116 km) of the river drain arid pinion-juniper, sagebrush, and ??,"":;barren land,habitat of Uintah County in northeast Utah. Most tributaries to the river in Utah are intermittent. The lower 24 mi (39.6 km) of the river flow through the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation; the remaining 47 mi 367km) of river in Utah are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or are privately owned. The White River basin lies within a 17,000 mil (442,000 km2) area of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming where the richest oil shale deposits in the country are found. Recoverable shale oil deposits are estimated to be 731 billion barrels (Ishinger, 1977). In 1965, the Utah Division of Water Resources, proposed construction of a dam on the White River to provide water needs for oil shale development in the region (Utah Div. Water Resources, 1977). Secondary objec- tives of the project were, 1) to provide irrigation water for the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, 2) to provide a lake for recreational boating and fishing, and 3) to possibly provide hydroelectric power. The proposed dam site is located about 8.5 mi (13.7 km) southwest of Bonanza, Utah in the center of Section 17, TiOS, R24E. Approximately 12 mi (19.3 km) of the White River would be impounded by the 1,810 acre (724 ha) reservoir (Figure 1). Future development of Federal oil shale tracts leased to private concerns and the construction of the proposed impoundment on the White River will have environmental impacts, especially on the aquatic fauna of the river. However, the magnitude of these impacts is unknown. The possible occurrence of two endangered fish, the Colorado Squawfish (Ptychocheilus lucius) and the humpback chub (Gila c ha) within the White River drainage, enhance the importance of potential habitat changes from watershed development. A humpback chub was collected near Bonanza, Utah (Sigler and Miller, 1963) and several adult squaw- fish were collected in the upper White River in Colorado in the late 1960's (Everhart and May, 1973) and in 1977 (Prewitt et al., 1978). The occurrence of both species in the Green River near the White River confluence, has been well documented (Holden and Stalnaker 1975a, Seethaler 1978, Holden 1968, 1973, McAda et al., 1977, Stalnaker and Holden, 1973). Also, individuals of two other endemic Colorado River fish species which are proposed additions to the threatened and endangered species list, the humpback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) as threatened and the bonytail chub (Gila elegans) as endangered, have been