7378

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7378
• Author: Wydoski, R. S.
• Title: Potential Impacts of Alterations in Streamflow and Water Quality on Fish and Macroinvertebrates in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1980.
• USFW - Doc Type: 77-147
• Copyright Material: YES

The agricultural economy of the West, as well as municipal and

Table 2. Projected Demand for Fishing and Hunting in the Upper Colorado
River Basin
a
Thousands of Use for (percent):
Year user-days Fishing Hunting
1965 4,815 73.7 26.3
1980 5,982 75.6 24.4
2000 8,405 77.4 22,6
2020 11,040 78.5 21.5

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the Flaming Gorge Dam and the mouth of the Yampa River might benefit

from these discharges of warmer water. these endemic fish are currently

found in the Green River below the confluence with the Yampa River

(Holden and Stalnaker, 1975).

industrial needs, depend upon storage of part of the annual runoff for

use at another ttme during the year. As a result, a number of reser-

voirs have been built on the Upper Colorado River, such as Lake Powell

and Fontenelle and Flaming Gorge reservoirs, which offer exceptional

fisheries where little sport fishing existed previously (Mullan, 1974;

Source: U.S. Water Resources Council, Upper Colorado Region
State-Federal Inter-Agency Group/Pacific Southwest Inter-Agency
Committee, Upper Colorado ReRion Comprehensive Framework Study, Main
Report (Washington, D.C., 1971).

Wiley and Mullan, 1975; Mullan and coauthors, 1976).

a
As percentages of total user-days for a given year,

Problema with Supply and Demand for Sport Fishing

Although it is difficult to predict demand for recreation because

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of changes in numerous factors over ttme, participation in recreational

fishing has been increasing rapidly and the increase is expected to con-

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tinue. The number of anglers in the Mountain states increased 37 per-

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cent between 1955 and 1970 (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of

Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, 1972). Because people of all ages fish

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and because the American public centers much of its recreation on water

resources, the demand for this sport will increase even more in the fu-

ture. Projection of the demand for hunting and fishing in the Upper Colo-

rado Basin indicates an increase of 43.6 percent between 1965 and 2020

(U.S. Water Resources Council, 1971; table 2). Nearly 74 percent of the

participation in 1965 was by fishermen and this percentage is expected

to increase in the future (table 2). In the Mountain states (Arizona,

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Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), the