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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this management plan is to provide management guidance and recommendations for lakes and streams within the Yampa River basin; and to provide a reference for agency biologists, federal and state resource managers, and other interested parties. The Yampa River basin is located in northwest Colorado and has been described as five hydrogeographic regions, the Upper Yampa, Lower Yampa, Little Snake River, Vermillion, and Green River. Major subdrainages in the Yampa basin include the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yampa and Little Snake rivers; the Elk and Williams Fork rivers; and Elkhead, Fortification, Trout, Slater, and Vermillion creeks. Aquatic resources and fisheries within these drainages range from high mountain lakes and perennial coldwater streams to larger rivers and coldwater reservoirs to the warmwater reaches of the lower Yampa River and ephemeral streams and ponds created by spring snowmelt and runoff. The mountainous portions of the basin in the upper Yampa hydrounit contain 91 % of the lake habitat area and 48 % of the stream habitat area. The lower elevation, high desert plateau of the lower Yampa hydrounit contains only 7% of the lake habitat area and 34% of the stream habitat area. Within the Little Snake River hydrounit, which includes both mountain and desert plateau landscapes, only 2% of the lake habitat area and 18% of the stream habitat area occurs. Basin resources are comprised of 209 lakes totaling 5,689 surface acres and 661 stream reaches totaling 4,411 miles. By stream habitat miles, 65% of the streams in the Yampa basin are managed as conservation waters or natural recruitment/unique fisheries under the Special Management category, 29 % are managed with put-and-grow stocking or natural recruitment as optimum and wild trout fisheries, and only 6% are managed intensively with stocked fish for put-and-take harvest fisheries. By lake surface area, 14 % of the lakes in the basin are managed as natural recruitment, limited harvest fisheries, 47 % are managed with stocked fish as put-and-grow harvest fisheries consistent with lake productivity levels, and 20 % are managed intensively with stocked fish for put- and-take harvest fisheries. The remaining lake habitat area is in private property and not managed by the Divisionof Wildlife. Special management waters include 33 streams and four lakes dedicated to conservation of pure populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout and 170 streams and nine lakes managed for the conservation of native, nongame aquatic wildlife. Optimum Management waters include 96 high lakes and 197 wild trout streams. Recreational fishery resources are concentrated in the eastern third of the basin within the montane zone. Intensive stocking management is associated with smaller, standing waters with easy access and mainstem rivers such as the Elk River, Williams Fork, and upper and middle reaches of the Yampa River. Basin management strategies and recommendations are influenced by existing Division policies, regulations, and plans. These guidance documents include the Long Range Plan, the Whirling Disease and Statewide Fish Management policies, the Nonnative Fish Stocking Procedures agreement between Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Memorandum of DRAFT - January 13, 1998 ii