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<br />124 Swimming Against the Current <br /> <br />were eventually agreed upon, and imposed <br />certain restrictions on quantities and schedul- <br />ing of (Jows (Harris et al. 1982). The 1948 <br />Upper Colorado River Compact provided con- <br />sumptive water rights for Arizona,California, <br />and Nevada, and apportioned the remainder <br />to the upper basin states of Colorado, New <br />Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Division of <br />water among the states cleared the way for <br />development of several major water projects <br />in the upper basin. In 1956 the Colorado <br />River Storage Project Act authorized construc- <br />tion of large main-stem dams on the upper <br />Colorado and its tributaries. The project in- <br />cluded six reservoirs: Blue Mesa, Crystal, <br />Flaming Gorge, Morrow Point, Navajo, and <br />Powell. The last to be constructed, Lake Pow- <br />ell, was completed in 1962. and filled by 1980. <br />In the early 1960s the endangered Col- <br />orado River fishes were considered undesir- <br />able "rough" fish by conservation agencies. <br />As a result, the largest rotenone treatment ever <br />applied in the United States until that time <br />was conducted to remove them and other un- <br />wanted species such as common carp (Cypri- <br />nus carpio) from the Green River above Flam- <br />ing Gorge Dam. The goal was to create a SpOrt <br />fishery for introduced salmonids (Binns 1965; <br />Holden, this volume, chap. 3). Before the rote- <br />none could be completely detoxified, it con- <br />tinued downstream into Dinosaur National <br />Monument (NM), Reductions in native fish <br />numbers were greatest in the uppermost part <br />of the monument, at the Gates of Lodore, and <br />diminished as the chemical moved down- <br />stream. Although the poison adversely af- <br />fected native fishes and invertebrates, the <br />eventual ecological changes to riverine envi- <br />ronments caused by Flaming Gorge Dam <br />were believed more important in ultimately re- <br />ducing their populations (Holden, this vol- <br />ume, chap. 3). <br />The Colorado River Storage Project dams <br />and reservoirs, along with private and local <br />water developments, all combined to alter nat- <br /> <br />ural flow, water temperature, and sediment <br />transport in much of the upper basin. Peak <br />spring flows were diminished and low stable <br />flows at other times of year were elevated by <br />reservoir releases that changed the natural hy- <br />drograph (Vanicek et al. 1970). These projects <br />also resulted in direct losses of stream habitat <br />through inundation by reservoirs and block- <br />age of migration routes. <br />Concurrently, various non-native fishes <br />were intentionally or accidentally introduced. <br />[n 1976 the Colorado River Wildlife Council <br />listed twenty species (40%) as nati~e to the <br />system and thirty (60%) as introduced (W M. <br />Richardson 1976). At the same time, Hol- <br />den and Stalnaker (1975a) reported ten na- <br />tive fishes (34.5"10) and nineteen non-native <br />(65.5"10) in the upper basin. By 1982. the non- <br />native species had increased to 76% of the <br />fifty-five fishes known to occur in the upper <br />basin (Tyus et al. 1982a). [t is generally be- <br />lieved that predation and competition by in- <br />troduced fishes are major factors adversely af- <br />fecting the endemic species. <br /> <br />Competition for Water <br /> <br />Drought in the late 1800s followed by pro- <br />longed flooding in the early 1900S in the <br />lower Colorado River basin stimulated de- <br />mands for control of the Colorado River <br />(Fradkin 1984). Construction of Roosevelt <br />Dam on the Salt River in 1913 and Hoover <br />Dam in 1935, followed by other main-stem <br />dams, changed much of the free-flowing river <br />to a lacustrine environment. Stream flow and <br />temperature regimes in the remaining river <br />were greatly altered. These events were closely <br />followed by declines in native fishes in the <br />lower basin. Colorado squawfish were extir- <br />pated, and bony tails, humpback chubs, and <br />razorback suckers were drastically reduced in <br />numbers and distribution. Only large, old <br />bony tails and razorback suckers were still <br />found in reservoirs of the lower basin by the <br />