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<br />. <br /> <br />Basin are below freezing from November to March, all water bodies freeze for a relatively long <br /> <br /> <br />period. The longer the area remains below freezing, the greater the depth of ice in these flood <br /> <br /> <br />plain wetlands. Depth of ice over the Stirrup flood plain wetland was about 0.28 meters in both <br /> <br /> <br />2006 and 2007 (deepest point in the Stirrup was 0.76 m in 2006 and 1.2 m in 2007), suggesting <br /> <br /> <br />that shallow flood plains (e.g., Thunder Ranch) may freeze to the bottom. Single breach <br /> <br />wetlands entrain less water and fewer particles, but several (Stirrup, L- 7) are deep enough to <br /> <br />successfully overwinter fish. This suggests that certain trade-offs or combinations of strategies <br /> <br />may be necessary to achieve recovery of razorback sucker through use of flood plain wetlands <br /> <br />with different breach configurations. <br /> <br />Stewart Lake may offer both relatively high entrainment rates (when it is a flow-through <br /> <br />site) and may be deep enough to overwinter fish. Unfortunately, Stewart Lake suffers from <br /> <br />contaminant issues (e.g., high levels of selenium) that may limit its utility as a place for <br /> <br />razorback sucker recruitment. The USFWS Ecological Services Office, in Salt Lake City, Utah <br /> <br />is currently in the process of testing Stewart Lake for selenium concentrations and UDWR and <br /> <br />the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are in the process ofremediating the wetland by filling and <br /> <br />draining the area multiple times during the year (Miles Hanberg, UDWR; Nathan Darnall, <br /> <br />USFWS, personal communication). When this process is complete, selenium levels should be <br /> <br />reduced (limitations of selenium levels for razorback suckers is equivocal) and thus Stewart Lake <br /> <br />may contribute to recovery efforts for razorback sucker in five to 10 years. While few are in <br /> <br />agreement as to the effects of large amounts of selenium in larval razorback suckers, managers <br /> <br />will need to consider all of these factors when formulating an optimal flood plain management <br /> <br />strategy in the middle Green River. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />53 <br /> <br />. <br />