9417

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9417
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Final Environmental Assessment
• USFW Year: 1998.
• USFW - Doc Type: Acquisition and Enhancement of Floodplain Habitats along the Upper Colorado, Green, and Gunnison Rivers as part of the Recovery Program for Endangered Colorado River Fishes.
• Copyright Material: NO

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
-,I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

UPPER COIORAID RNER
ENDANGERED FISH
RECOVERY PRffiRAM

U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service . P.O. Box 25486 · Denver Federal Center . Denver, CO 80225 · [phone], ext. 227

News release

Feb. 23, 1998

Contact: Connie Young
[phone], ext. 227

Open houses will review proposal to expand wetlands for rare fish

The public is invited to attend informal discussions next week on a federal proposal to
expand riverside wetlands along the Green, Colorado and Gunnison rivers as habitat for
endangered fish.
Staffers from the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and Bureau of Reclamation will host open houses from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the following dates:
-- March 3 at the Weston Plaza Hotel, 1684 West U.S. Highway 40, Vernal, Utah.
-- March 4 at the Ramada Inn, 752 Horizon Drive, Grand Junction, Colo.
-- March 5 at the Best Western Sundance Hotel, 903 Main St., Delta, Colo.
Federal agencies will explain and answer questions on an initiative to acquire easements
and remove certain levees on the Green River directly below Dinosaur National Monument; the
Colorado River between Rifle, Colo., and the Utah border; and the Gunnison River from its north
fork near Delta, Colo., to the confluence with the Colorado River. Copies of a draft
"environmental assessment" document prepared to comply with the National Environmental
Policy Act will be available at the meetings.
Biologists believe restoring and protecting riverside wetlands is essential to the recovery of
endangered fish such as the extremely rare razorback sucker. The fish grow significantly faster in
these areas, where water is wanner and chock-full of microscopic food.
"Increasing these floodplain habitats is one of the best ways we have of restoring
endangered fishes," said Pat Nelson, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service. "In addition,
these wetland areas are some of the most important types of habitat for all Western wildlife
species, including waterfowl, eagles, deer and elk."a
-- more --