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m .•? ?•. ?r ?. s? ?. a¦? s.rr ?•. County in Colorado. The Little Snake drainage (3,730 mP) includes the Upper Little Snake (285 mi) and Slater Creek (161 mil) drainages in northeast Moffat County and northern Routt County and the Lower Little Snake drainage from the stateline to its confluence with the Yampa River in Lily Park north of Elk Springs (Figure 1). In contrast to the other two drainages, the Little Snake drainage contains only 2 % of the lake area and 18 % of the stream mileage (Figure 2). The Little Snake drainage is extremely and and flows in the Little Snake River itself are not always perennial, ranging from 0 to 5,000 cfs. The lower reaches of the Little Snake River may be reduced to isolated pools maintained by groundwater during the late-summer. Most of the perennial waters within this drainage occur in the mountainous areas of the Slater and Upper Little Snake drainages. Within the basin, 209 lakes totaling 5,689 ac surface area and 661 stream segments totaling 4,411 miles represent the aquatic wildlife habitat resource currently being managed by state, federal or private entities. Management categories defined by the Division include Intensive Management, which seeks to maximize fishing recreation at the least cost by providing hatchery raised, catchable- sized fish for immediate harvest; Optimum Management, which seeks to provide fishing recreation within the limits of habitat productivity to support a fishery through natural recruitment, stocking of juvenile fish (put-and-grow), and appropriate regulations;and Special Management, which seeks to protect and conserve native wildlife species and provide specialized or unique fisheries supported largely through natural recruitment and special regulations (see Appendix A). By surface area, 20% of the lakes in the Yampa basin are managed primarily with stocked fish as intensive fisheries, 47% are managed with put-and-grow stocking or natural recruitment as optimum fisheries, 14 % are managed primarily as natural fisheries, and 19 % are not specifically managed by CDOW (Figure 2). By stream miles, 6 % of the streams are managed primarily with stocked fish as intensive fisheries, 29 % are managed with put-and- grow stocking or natural recruitment as optimum fisheries, and 65 % are managed primarily as conservation waters and natural fisheries in the Special Management category. While conservation actions for native aquatic wildlife and their habitat may be implemented across all drainages within the Yampa River basin, distribution of recreational fishery resources and related management actions are not (see Figure 3). Recreational fishery resources are clearly concentrated in the eastern third of the basin within the seven drainages of the Upper Yampa hydrounit and the associated upper drainages of the Little Snake River Hydrounit. Intensive management is associated with the mainstem rivers such as the Elk River, the Williams Fork, and the upper and middle reaches of the Yampa River. Optimum management and special management for Colorado River cutthroat trout are associated with the smaller coldwater mountain streams and lakes. The Optimum Management Category includes 96 high lakes (831 ac) and 197 wild trout streams (1,227 mi). The Special Management Category includes 33 streams (198 mi) and four lakes (93 ac) managed specifically for Colorado River cutthroat trout. Aquatic habitats that does not support gamefish species or does not support fish life but is important for other aquatic life such as herptiles, mollusks, and crustaceans are also included in the Special Management Category. These habitat resources include 170 streams (858 mi.) and nine DRAFT - January 13, 1998 5