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<br />. <br /> <br />higher flow years (when river-flood plain connections are achieved) are unknown. However, if, <br /> <br />during higher flow years, razorback sucker larvae from Razorback Bar are carried up to nine <br /> <br />kilometers further downstream, they would likely be available for entrainment into Stewart Lake. <br /> <br />In addition to marked larvae, wild larvae were also captured at the 8 km sampling site <br /> <br /> <br />adjacent to the Thunder Ranch flood plain, predominantly on river left (Figure 9). The large <br /> <br /> <br />number of wild razorback sucker larvae captured during this study was surprising, especially <br /> <br /> <br />given the relatively short sampling time at each site. The number captured in a few hr of drift net <br /> <br /> <br />sampling was equivalent to the number captured in entire seasons of light trapping in backwaters <br /> <br />in the middle Green River area in some years (Bestgen et al. annual reports, project 22f). If one <br /> <br />assumes that our near-shore only samples were representative for razorback sucker larvae density <br /> <br />across the entire channel, and that we sampled about 0.12% of the flow at the 8 km site, from the <br /> <br />188 unmarked larvae that we captured, we estimated that about 156,600 ([100%/0.12%]*188) <br /> <br />razorback sucker larvae were transported downriver in that five-hr sampling period. Given that <br /> <br />few wild adult razorback suckers were likely remaining in the middle Green River in 2004 <br /> <br />(Bestgen et al. 2002), capture of many unmarked larvae presents unequivocal evidence that <br /> <br />hatchery-produced and stocked adults are successfully spawning. <br /> <br /> <br />Spatial distribution of marked and wild larvae, and spatial distribution of beads released <br /> <br /> <br />at Razorback Bar suggested that there was an additional spawning area downstream from <br /> <br /> <br />Razorback Bar and located on river left, but the exact location was not known. This uncertainty <br /> <br />was resolved in 2005 when ripe and presumably spawning adults were located at Escalante Bar, <br /> <br />which is just upstream of the Thunder Ranch wetland complex on river left. This location is <br /> <br />outside of Dinosaur National Monument and thus has a high probability for seeing human <br /> <br />impacts in the future. Northeastern Utah is also an area of high natural gas and oil exploration <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />35 <br /> <br />. <br />