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Final Report 2-1 September 2000 2 FLAMING GORGE FLOW RECOMMENDATIONS INVESTIGATION This chapter presents an overview of the Flaming Gorge Flow Recommendations Investigation, which serves as the basis of this report. It discusses the origins of the investigation, study area, study objectives and approach, research flows implemented during the study period, and methods used to develop the integrated flow and temperature recommendations presented in Chapter 5. In 1990, the USFWS and Reclamation submitted a proposal to the Recovery Program that called for a cooperative agency approach to conduct additional research on the effects of operating Flaming Gorge Dam on endangered fishes in the Green River system. As a result, a team composed of upper-basin researchers was assembled to design and conduct studies that would provide data for refinement of flow and temperature recommendations in the 1992 Biological Opinion (USFWS 1992; Section 1.3). The Flaming Gorge Research Team consisted of representatives from the Service, Reclamation, Colorado State University Larval Fish Laboratory, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Argonne National Laboratory, Utah State University, National Park Service, and BIO/WEST, Inc. The Service and Reclamation were responsible for coordinating annual research efforts. Studies for the Flaming Gorge Flow Recommendations Investigation were conducted from 1990 through 1996, but flow and temperature recommendations specified in the Biological Opinion were not fully implemented until 1992. 2.1 STUDY AREA The study area for the Flaming Gorge Flow Recommendations Investigation encompassed the main-stem Green River from Flaming Gorge Dam downstream to its confluence with the Colorado River and included lower portions of major tributaries (Figure 2.1). Areas of particular interest, based on past research, included the lower Yampa River; the Green River between the Yampa River confluence and Jensen, Utah; the Green River between Jensen and Ouray, Utah; the Green River through Desolation and Gray Canyons; and the Green River upstream of the town of Green River, Utah. In this report, the main-stem Green River is divided into the following contiguous reaches delimited by major tributaries for evaluation and development of flow and temperature recommendations: (1) Flaming Gorge Dam to the Yampa River confluence, (2) Yampa River confluence to the White River confluence, and (3) White River confluence to the Colorado River confluence (Figure 2.1). These reaches are described in Section 3.3. 2.2 STUDY OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH The Flaming Gorge Flow Recommendations Investigation was designed to (1) determine the biological and physical responses to seasonal flow modifications of the Green River ecosystem from Flaming Gorge Dam to the Green River confluence with the Colorado River, (2) develop