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<br />It should be notedt however, that these heavy spring flows have tended to <br /> <br />delay spawning about two weeks and depressed maximum temperatures which has <br /> <br />resulted in smaller young-of-the-year fish at the end of the growing season. <br /> <br />Survival of those smaller fish may be reduced to the extent that the <br /> <br />increased production may be negated. In the Colorado Rivert the only other <br /> <br />area where quantitative sampling has been carried out every year for the <br /> <br />past three years, the opposite relationship appears to have been observed <br /> <br />with the highest production of larvae occurring in 1982 during a runoff year <br /> <br />closer to average. In the Green Rivert extensive sampling was carried out <br /> <br />during the two contrasting years, 1981 and 1984. Substantially more larvae <br /> <br />were collected per sample (0.56) in 1984 than during the low flow year of <br /> <br />1981 (0.12). <br /> <br />In the Green Rivert flows have ~sually dropped from 20-30tOOO cfs to 10- <br /> <br />20,000 cfs at the commencement of spawning and continue to drop <br /> <br />precipitously to 5-7,000 cfs toward the conclusion of spawning (Table 4). <br /> <br />Daily maximum water temperatures are usually 20-220C and may become as high <br /> <br />as 25-270C by the conclusion of spawning. In the Yampat peakrun-off <br /> <br />generally approaches 15tOOO cfs and has declined to 5-8,000 cfs by the onset <br /> <br />of spawning with flows continuing to decline to 1-2,000 cfs by its <br /> <br />conclusion (Table 3). Temperature regimes at the Ya1l1pa spawning areas are <br /> <br />similar to the Green though daily fluctuations and maximums have often been <br /> <br />greater. <br /> <br />Peak flows in the Colorado ranging between 20tOOO-30tOOO cfs have generally <br /> <br />declined to 15,000 cfs by the onset of spawning and continue to recede to <br /> <br />4,000 cfs toward its conclusion (Table 5). Temperatures remain a few <br /> <br />degrees cooler than the Yampa and Green with maximums seldom exceeding 250C. <br /> <br />20 <br />