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<br />STUDY AREA <br /> <br />The Yampa River is located in arid, northwestern Colorado and drains from the <br />southern Rocky Mountains to the Green River. Basin size is 3,410 miles 2, average <br />annual discharge is 1 .2 million acre feet, and hydrology is snow-melt driven with peak <br />flows occurring in spring. The study area was in the Yampa River within a presumptive <br />spawning area for northern pike near Hayden , Colorado, and within a portion of critical <br />habitat for Colorado pikeminnow in the Yampa River from near Milk Creek (River Mile; <br />RM 120) to the upstream end of Yampa Canyon (RM 45). River miles denote distance <br />upstream from the confluence with the Green River. The study area was divided into <br />four reaches, the Hayden Reach and three reaches in critical habitat. The Hayden <br />Reach was 20 miles long between Highway 40 bridge east of Hayden and the <br />downstream end of Yampa State Wildlife Area (RM 171-151). Reaches in critical <br />habitat were separated by high-gradient, white-water canyons. The Juniper Reach was <br />30 miles long between Milk Creek and the Maybell Diversion Dam in Juniper Canyon <br />(RM 120-90.5; Figure 1). The upper 17 miles contains higher gradient than the lower <br />portion of the reach and travels through a canyon known locally as either Little Yampa <br />Canyon or Duffy Canyon. The lower 10 miles of the .Juniper Reach traverses low- <br />gradient, irrigated, agricultural land. A 1.5-mile, white-water section in Juniper Canyon <br />immediately downstream of the Maybell Diversion dam was not navigable and was not <br />sampled. The Maybell Reach was approximately 28-miles long between the lower end <br />of Juniper Canyon and the upstream end of Cross Mountain Canyon (RM 89-59). It is <br />low-gradient, with irrigated agriculture, and skirts the small town of Maybell, Colorado. <br /> <br />8 <br />