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<br />Vol. XIII No.3 ry)fpD
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<br />Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
<br />Service, Washington, D.C. 20204
<br />VtJ se ~ Ha. WIll, J I
<br />Help Is On the Way for Rare Fishes of (l~ 'B"'8')
<br />the Upper Colorado River Basin
<br />
<br />Technical Bulletin
<br />
<br />Sharon Rose and John Hamill
<br />Denver Regional Office
<br />
<br />On January 21-22. 1988, the Governors
<br />of Colorado. Wyoming, and Utah joined
<br />Secretary of the Interior Hodel and the
<br />Administrator of the Western Area Power
<br />Administration in signing a cooperative
<br />agreement to implement a recovery pro-
<br />gram for rare and endangered species of
<br />fish in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
<br />The recovery program is a milestone
<br />effort that coordinates Federal, State, and
<br />private actions to conserve the fish in a
<br />manner compatible with States' water
<br />rights allocation systems and the various
<br />interstate compacts that guide water al-
<br />location, development, and management
<br />in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
<br />The Colorado River is over 1,400 miles
<br />long, passes through two countries, and
<br />has a drainage basin of 242,000 square
<br />miles in the United States, yet it provides
<br />less water per square mile in its basin
<br />than any other major river system in the
<br />United States. Demands on this limited
<br />resource are high. The Colorado River
<br />serves 15 million people by supplying
<br />water for irrigation, hydroelectric power
<br />generation, industrial and municipal pur-
<br />poses, recreation, and fish and wildlife
<br />enhancement.
<br />The headwater streams of the Upper
<br />Colorado River originate in the Rocky and
<br />Uinta Mountains. Downstream, the main-
<br />stem river historically was characterized
<br />by silty, turbulent flows with large varia-
<br />tions in annual discharge. The native
<br />warmwater fishes adapted to this de-
<br />manding environment; however, to meet
<br />man's ever increasing demands for water,
<br />impoundments were constructed that radi-
<br />cally changed the ecological characteris-
<br />tics of the river,
<br />Some native warmwater species en-
<br />demic to the Colorado River Basin, includ-
<br />ing the Colorado squawfish (Ptycho-
<br />cheilus lucius), humpback chub (Gila
<br />cypha), bonytail chub (Gila elegans), and
<br />razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus),
<br />were unable to adjust to the modifications
<br />of their environment. Changes in stream-
<br />flow and water temperature, direct loss of
<br />
<br />(continued on page 6)
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<br />Upper Cross Mountain Canyon on the Yampa River historically was habitat for the Colorado
<br />cquawfish, humpback chub, razorback sucker, and bony tail chub. The first three can still be
<br />found in this stretch, but the bony tail's presence is unknown because the species' numbers
<br />are so low, This section of the Yampa River may be a suitable site for restocking of these
<br />rare native fishes.
<br />
<br />ENDANGERED SPECIES TECHNICAL BULLETIN Vol. XIII No, 3 (1988)
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