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<br />~ <br /> <br />66 <br /> <br />P. B. HOLDEN <br /> <br />decline. The dams blocked movement of the riverine fish. Colorado <br />squawfish and razorback suckers both reportedly migrated up trib- <br />utaries to spawn (Minckley, 1973), but recent evidence suggests that <br />this may not be the case (HOlden, 1977). Therefore, whether the <br />dams actually impeded necessary migration is questioned. Short-term <br />movements were definitely impeded. <br /> <br />Habitat alteration was the major detrimental factor wrought by <br />the dams. The large number of reservoirs changed hundreds of kilo- <br />meters of river to still water (Minckley and Deacon, 1968). Most of <br />this change occurred in areas inhabited by the large river fishes. <br />Colorado squawfish and humpback chub seldom are found in reservoirs, <br />except immediately after impoundment or sporadically in later years. <br />Colorado squawfish are extinct in the lower Colorado Basin (Miller, <br />1961; Minckley and Deacon, 1968; Minckley, 1973). Adult bony tail <br />chubs and razorback suckers are found in some of the lower basin <br />reservoirs where there are no large, inflowing tributaries, but <br />recruitment is lacking (Minckley, 1973). They are seldom found in <br />reservoirs, such as Lake Powell, where they can escape into large, <br />warm rivers. This suggests that these fish may survive in reservoirs <br />where they are trapped, but will eventually disappear due to a loss <br />of recruitment. This information also strongly indicates the need <br />these species have for large rivers. <br /> <br />Habitat alteration due to cold tailwaters in summer also has <br />adversely affected the Colorado River fishes. Native species were <br />effectively eliminated from 105 kID of river below Flaming Gorge Dam <br />and were replaced with a trout fishery (Vanicek et al., 1970). <br />Similarly, the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam in Grand Canyon <br />remains too cold for most native fishes for over 400 km (Holden and <br />Stalnaker, 1975). A relic reproducing population of humpback chubs <br />persists in the Little Colorado River, the largest tributary in the <br />Grand Canyon; and occasional individuals are found in the mainstream <br />(C. Minckley, pers. comm., Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff). <br /> <br />The scarcity of adult rare fishes in these cold tailwaters <br />suggests that summer temperatures are colder than they prefer. <br />Below Flaming Gorge, they could move downstream, where large <br />tributaries produced near-normal temperatures, whereas in the Grand <br />Canyon area they could migrate only to Lake Mead or the Little <br />Colorado River. <br /> <br />Recent studies below Flaming Gorge Dam have shown that the <br />tailwater temperatures changed 5 or 6 years after initiation of dam <br />releases (Mullan et al., 1976). At first, it was thought that this <br />was the result of stratification in the reservoir (Holden, 1973; <br />Bureau of Reclamation, 1976; Mullan et al., 1976), but a recent <br />analysis indicates that the temperature change is due mainly to an <br />increase in flow (Holden and Crist, 1979). Releases from Flaming <br />