Laserfiche WebLink
<br />STUDY AREA <br /> <br />Kokanee, the landlocked form of the sockeye salmon, was first stocked in Flaming Gorge <br />Reservoir in 1963 (petengill et al. 1983). With the decline of the rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) <br />fishery, due apparently to competition for zooplankton with kokanee, Utah chub (Gila atraria), and <br />white sucker (Catostomous commersoni) (Schneidervin 1985), kokanee have become an important <br />component of the sport fish harvest in Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Kokanee also serve as a forage <br />species for large lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) (Wengert 1985). <br /> <br />Flaming Gorge Reservoir is located in Sweetwater County, southwest Wyoming and Daggett <br />County, northeast Utah. Two major kokanee spawning streams to Flaming Gorge Reservoir are <br />known--the Green River in Wyoming and Sheep Creek in Utah. <br /> <br />The Green River spawning stock migrates 70 miles up the river as far as Fontenelle Dam. <br />Substantial spawning takes place in the first 1.5 miles downstream from Fontenelle Dam. This stock <br />spawns in late October and early November. Average discharge during this period in 1985 was 850 <br />cfs. <br /> <br />Sheep Creek enters Flaming Gorge in the canyon portion of the reservoir in Utah. Sheep <br />Creek is a shallow, high gradient, canyon stream which has experienced two 100-year flood events <br />recently; the first in July 1965 and the second in July 1985. This stock spawns in late August and <br />September. Dishcharge averaged 55 cfs during this period in 1985. <br /> <br />METHODS <br /> <br />In both streams sP3:wning areas were located by sighting concentrations of kokanee. Precise <br />locations were found by identifying the displaced gravel of the kokanee redds. Water depth, mean <br />current velocity, and nose current velocity were measured immediately upstream from redds with a <br />rod and Gurley current meter. Nose velocity was measured at 0.4 feet from the stream bottom (Smith <br />1973). Substrate was identified visually in the tailspill of all redds and placed in substrate class 1-8 <br />according to Bovee and Cochnauer (1977). <br /> <br />A vailab1e habitat was quantified by measuring the same parameters at 10 equally spaced <br />stations along each of 211 transects in Sheep Creek and 66 transects in the Green River. A tape was <br />used to locate the stations in Sheep Creek. This was not possible in the Green River, so a compass <br />and trigonometry formulas were used. <br /> <br />Probability-of-use curves were developed using frequency analysis following the methods <br />described by Bovee and Cochnauer (1977). All results are given in English units because the IFIM is <br />based on hydrologic concepts, and hydrologists use English units. <br /> <br />RESULTS <br /> <br />A total of 111 redds were measured in Sheep Creek and 323 in the Green River for <br />probability-of-use curve construction. <br /> <br />25 <br />