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10 The presence of significant backwaters within one mile of these. ponds is a concern and should be more specifically addressed. These< types of habitat are typically of critical importance to young life stages of endangered species and one mile is not a significant distance in terms of riverine fish movements. . Fishery managers should expect that escaped centrarchids will find these areas and survive if habitat elements are present for all life stages of the nonnative immigrants.' If suitable habitat is determined to be present for the nonnative centrarchids, fishery managers should seriously consider the merits of managing for these species in these lakes. The discussion of channel catfish survival raises questions about the potential impact of escaped iftdividuals. Channel catfish can be expected to survive in the Colorado River if sufficient resources and habitat are available to support more fish. Additional fish in this system would not survive only if the habitat is already at or near its carrying capacity for this species. This issue should be more specifically addressed or data should be provided that show the competitive interactions between hatchery and wild channel catfish. The location of these waters relative to the 40 year flood plain should be verified. Although gravel filters, fabric and screens are in place and will prevent fish passage under normal conditions, the potential for escapement should be considered high for all of these waters. The proximity of these waters to the Colorado River almost guarantees that escapement will eventually occur either by flooding or unauthorized human transplants. While we agree with comments on page 8 that illegal transplants from these waters should not be a basis for denying this 'proposal, the reality is that these introductions will occur - probably with greater likelihood than at present. This type of escapement should be expected and the likelihood of these introductions should be directly addressed in all appropriate sections of these plans. Comments in the Rationale/Justification section seem somewhat inconsistent with other information for Corn Lake. This lake already provides 3900 angler days per year which is fairly high for a 10 acre lake, yet part of the rationale is to increase fishing opportunity. The rationale also states. .the lake provid~s;_WC!PJ1\t1Clter _ fish habitat rather than coldwater fish habitat, yet the management strategy calls for managing catchable rainbow trout and the stocking plan does not include trout. It would be helpful to identify the fishing demand the lake can support and, if appropriate, segregate demand by fishing type (cold versus warm water).