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<br />portions of the Yampa River that contain critical habitat for endangered fish. In addition <br />to the priority of enhancing survival of endangered fishes, the Yampa Aquatic Plan <br />acknowledged the importance of continuing to provide fishing opportunities for anglers <br />and recommended that gamefish removed from critical habitat be translocated to <br />nearby, isolated waters. This project initiated northern pike removal as recommended <br />by the Yampa Aquatic Plan with the following objectives: <br />1. Remove juvenile and adult northern pike from critical habitat reaches in <br />the Yampa River. <br />2. Relocate northern pike from the Yampa River to isolated ponds or <br />reservoirs in or near the Yampa Valley that conform to Nonnative Fish <br />Stocking Procedures and are accessible to anglers. <br />3. Determine effectiveness of removal in reducing the number of northern <br />pike of all sizes or reducing the number of large northern pike. <br /> <br />Historical background of northern pike in the Yampa River- The northern pike is a <br />coolwater species with a circumpolar native distribution that extends from northwestern <br />Europe across northern Asia to northern North America. In North America, its native <br />range includes most of Canada, Alaska, New England, and states around and west of <br />the Great Lakes; however, it has been widely introduced as a gamefish and its current <br />range now extends far south into waters outside its native range. In Colorado, northern <br />pike were first introduced by private fish culturists into waters of the eastern plains in <br />1874 and by state and federal agencies into northeastern reservoirs in 1956 (Wiltzius <br />1985). Between 1962 and 1970, the state of Colorado stocked northern pike in several <br /> <br />2 <br />