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ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION OF NATIVE FISHES IN THE UPPER COLORADO RivER BASIN 191 holder union is represented by federal and state agen- cies, local governments, and various land, water, elec- trical power, wildlife, and environmental interests that can substantially benefit species by providing vital habitat elements through management of resources under their respective authorities. No single restoration or rehabilitation strategy will simultaneously improve the status of every riv- erine resource and hence, managers are faced with an intractable dilemma that requires wise choices and ongoing management decisions (Schmidt et al. 1998). An important component of recovery pro- grams in the upper basin has been implementation of the general principles of adaptive management (Walters 1986), whereby stakeholders learn by do- ing and refine decisions and directions according to the outcome of prior management actions. Recov- ery programs have succeeded in bringing stakehold- ers together, uniting conservation efforts, and strik- ing necessary balances between species conservation and human needs, and the ongoing success of these programs is testimony to their effectiveness (Poff et al. 2003). This paradigm of natural resource man- agement in balance with human needs is vital in today's society. Stakeholder involvement is vital even prior to federal listing of species. Conservation agreements and strategies are being developed and implemented for unlisted species to expedite actions that remove or minimize threars. Federal and state agencies, as well as stakeholders have discovered that species can some- times be more effectively managed and conserved before they are federally listed. Conservation agree- ments and strategies require continued and long-term stakeholder involvement and commitment, especially by state wildlife agencies that have the vested author- ity to manage those species within their jurisdictional boundaries. The Colorado River cunhroat trout con- servation agreement and strategy is an example of a multi-stakeholder program working to improve the status of a species and preclude the need for federal listing. Of particular importance and key to the suc- cess of these conservation agreements will be a dem- onstrated and ongoing commitment by the states to assure the public that these species will continue to be protected and conserved in the future. The rangewide conservation agreement and individual state strategies for round tail chub, flannelmouth sucker, and bluehead sucker are expected to have simi- lar success, given the involvement by many of the same stakeholders and individuals responsible for the suc- cess of the Colorado River cutthroat trout conserva- tion agreement and strategy. Recovery programs are not without difficulties and they will continue to receive a great deal of at- tention and scrutiny from stakeholders, the Ameri- can public, and the U.S. Congress that currently helps to fund them. Public skepticism and mistrust for these programs has turned to increasing support with a better understanding of achievements in spe- cies conservation, and an increasing recognition that public involvement is vital to species conservation. Critics view participation by water user groups and public utilities in these programs as compromising to the principles of species conservation, since these groups sponsor activities that may have contributed to species decline (Brower et al. 2001). However, it is this realization that has prompted various stake- holders to form these recovery programs and work jointly toward species conservation. Given the com- plex human interests and demands on the Colorado River system, this balanced approach to species con- servation and meeting human needs is vital and in- creases the scale and magnitude of available man- agement optIons. References Anderson, R. 2004. Riverine fish-flow investigations. Job Progress Report, Federal Aid Project F-288- R7. Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver. Archer, E., T. A. Crowl, and M. Trammel. 2000. Abundance of age-O native fish species and nurs- ery habitat quality and availability in the Sanjuan River New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Final Report to San Juan River Basin Recovery Imple- mentation Program. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Banks, J. L. 1964. Fish species distribution in Dino- saur National Monument during 1961 and 1962. Master's thesis. Colorado State Univer- sity, Fort Collins. Baxter, G. T., and J. R. Simon. 1970. Wyoming fishes. Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Bulletin 4, Cheyenne.