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INTRODUCTION Four endemic fishes are considered endangered in the Upper Colorado River Basin: razorback sucker (Xvrauchen texanus), bony tail (Gila eleQans). humpback chub (Gila ~). and Colorado squawfish (Ptvchocheilus lucius). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), through the Secretary of the Interior. is responsible for protection and recovery of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. To protect the endangered fishes while allowing future water development to meet the demands of society in the Upper Colorado River Basin. the Service coordinated the development of a Recovery Implementation Program (Program) for the endangered Colorado River fishes (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1987). This Program is a joint effort of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Western Area Power Administration. States of Colorado. Utah. and Wyoming, Upper Colorado' River Basin water users, and environmental organizations. Five Program elements were identified to recover the endangered fishes: (1) provision of instream flows. (2) habitat development and maintenance. (3) native fish stocking, (4) management of nonnative species and sport fishing. and (5) research. monitoring. and data management. A Recovery Action Plan is updated annually to ensure that the priority actions are completed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1995). This Recovery Action Plan provides the basis for evaluating sufficient progress toward recovery of the endangered fishes under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act while providing for water development to meet the needs of society. Program participants identified a need for an independent peer review process to be implemented by the Program Director for major technical components of the Program to ensure that proposed new projects are sound (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1994). The peer review process was also intended to help evaluate and integrate the various components identified in the Recovery Action Plan. A scope-of-work was submitted to the Recovery Program for funding in Fiscal Year 1995 related to evaluation of the methodology being used in the food web study of the Upper Colorado River. This scope-of-work was discussed at length by the Biology Committee and expanded to a peer review of streamflow, geomorphology. and food web projects that were approved under the Flaming Gorge and Aspinall Umbrella Studies. This task was assigned to the Propagation and Nonnative Fish Program Coordinator with instructions to select two peer reviewers with expertise in each of the disciplines of geomorphology, large river ecology. and food web relationships. Additional instructions were to provide the peer reviewers with the scopes-of-work for FY 1994 and annual reports for FY 1993 under the Flaming Gorge and Aspinall Umbrella Studies as background material. 3