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<br />Chapter I <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />An aot of Congress in 1956 authorized the Colorado River <br />storage Project, primarily for the purposes of regulating the now ot <br />the Colorado River, storing of water tor oonsumptive use, reola1m1ng <br />arid lands, and generating hydroelectrio power. Four major units <br />were authorized by this aot. These were the Navajo Unit on the San <br />Juan River in New ~U1co and Colorado, the Glen Canyon Unit on the <br />Colorado River in Arizona and utah, the CUreoanti Unit on the Gunnison <br />River in Colorado, and the Flaming Gorge Unit on the Green River in <br />Wyoming and Utah. <br />The oompletion of the Flaming Gorge Unit (Ashley Dam) on the <br />Gr.en River in November, 1962. brought about a major alteration in the <br />downstream environment. Closure of this dam created changes in stream <br />turbidities and average year-round stream temperatures, and brought <br />an end to the oharaoteristio patterns of high spring and early su.mmer <br />run-ott. <br /> <br />Prior to the upstream impounciment, the Green R1 ver wi thin <br />Dinosaur National llonument contained a distinotive fish fauna. Very <br />little was kno~ of the ecological relationships of the various fish <br />species, some of which were extremely rare endemics. A pre-impoundment <br />.tu~ was undertaken in order to obtain a better understanding of some <br />at the faotors innuenoing the composition and distribution of the fish <br />fauna before the resultant environmental modifications. <br />