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<br />effective discharge. He further concluded that the channels appeared to be in <br />quasi-equilibrium (dynamic equilibrium). Data from 15 gaging stations supported <br />the correlation between effective discharge and bankfull discharge. Most of the <br />stations were located in coarse bed cobble and gravel streams. For 65 km <br />upstream of the Lily gage, the Little Snake River is a sand-bed river which is <br />subject to potential channel adjustment from upstream water depletions. <br /> <br />Vampa River hydraulic and sediment transport data were collected during <br />the period from 1982 to 1983 and the sediment load of the Little Snake River <br />analyzed (Elliott et al. 1984; O'Brien 1984). O'Brien indicated that the most <br />sensitive reach of the Vampa River to changes in the Little Snake River sediment <br />load would be the Deerlodge Park reach. It was emphasized that channel response <br />to reduced flows would be dependent on the revised shape of the seasonal <br />hydrograph and the altered relationship between water and sediment discharge. <br /> <br />O'Brien (1984) used a mathematical model to simulate the potential effects <br />of streamflow reduction on cobble substrate reaches in the lower Yampa Canyon. <br />Based on the simulation and aggradation/degradation analysis for the Vampa River <br />for 1983, a high water and sediment load year, there was approximately 288,000 <br />af of water available that year that could be depleted without significantly <br />impacting the relatively sand-free cobble substrate conditions in Yampa Canyon <br />(O'Brien 1984). This analysis used the combined historical streamflow records at <br />the upstream Little Snake River and Vampa River gages. There was no analysis of <br />the potential impacts of flow reduction in either the Little Snake and Vampa rivers. <br /> <br />Elliott et al. (1984) collected suspended sediment, bedload and stream <br />discharge measurements of the Vampa River at Deerlodge Park and reported that <br />the river appeared to be in equilibrium in this reach. Mean daily discharge <br /> <br />32 <br />