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The Colorado Division of Wildlife (Division) and u.s. Fish and Wildlife Service intend to reach a balance between providing sportfishing opportunities to Colorado anglers in western Colorado while efforts are taken to recovery the endangered Colorado River fishes. Stocking nonnative fish for sport fishing in select ponds would continue fo77owing "Procedures for Stocking Nonnative Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin" that were developed and signed in a Cooperative Agreement by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Colorado Division of Wildlife et al. 1996; Maddux 1996) . Under these Procedures, the Division is exploring raising berms that meet Federa I Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standards on ponds including Corn Lake, Duke Lake, and Upper Connected Lake so that they can' be stocked under the "Procedures" (See Item B(2) on page 6 of Colorado Division of Wildlife et al. 1996). These lakes are particularly important in the Grand Valley because they provide recreational fishing opportunities for youngsters and others through programs such as "Pathways to Fishing". Many of the floodplain ponds along the Upper Colorado and Gunnison rivers contain fish species that are either not sought by anglers or are too small to be considered desirable to anglers. The Division sampled some of these ponds and found largemouth bass, green sunfish, black' bullhead, white sucker, common carp, fathead minnows, and red shiners. Sportfish that were in these ponds included small largemouth bass and green sunfish. Some of the ponds that are above the 50-year floodplain along the Upper Colorado and Gunnison rivers will be stocked and managed as warnwater fi sheri es. Through effective management, the size of sport fish should become larger and, therefore, become more desirable to anglers. A number of larger reservoirs containing warnwater sportfish are within a short drive of the Grand Va77ey, including Rio Blanco Reservoir, Purdy Mesa (formerly Ho77enbeck) Reservoir, Mack Mesa Reservoir, Chipeta Lake, Crawford Reservoir, McPhee Reservoir, and Harvey Gap Reservoir. The surface area of a single reservoir is larger than most of the floodplain ponds along the Upper Colorado and Gunnsion rivers. The average size of the floodplain ponds is less than 5 acres (Mitche77 1995) in comparison with 196 surface acres for Harvey Gap Reservoir. Anglers who desire warnwater sportfish have ample sportfishing opportunities in these reservoirs. 4. One response indicated that some anglers will haul live fish that are caught in other waters and restock the reclaimed ponds with warmwater fish such as largemouth bass. Most law-abiding anglers are aware that it is unlawful to transfer live fish and stock them into other waters. However, the potential for "bait-bucket" type transfers of warnwater fish species to be stocked in the ponds does exist. Reclaimed floodplain ponds will be monitored by 30