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THE OUTCOME OF AN EXPERIMENTAL STOCKING OF COLORADO SQUAWFISH IN KENNEY RESERVOIR NEAR RANGELY, COLORADO Final Report INTRODUCTION Kenney Reservoir is a mainstem impoundment that was constructed on the White River near Rangely, Colorado in 1984 (Figure 1). The white River in this area is inhabited by a state and federally listed endangered species, the Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus lucius) . Construction of dams that block fish migrations and alter aquatic habitats are thought to be a cause of the decline of Colorado squawfish (Colorado River Fishes Recovery Team 1991; Tyus 1984, Tyus 1986). Habitat alterations that resulted from this project and that could impact fish include changed water temperature and sedimentation regimes below the dam (Martinez 1986, Chart 1987), conversion of eight kilometers (km) of lotic (riverine) to lentic (lake) habitat, and the removal of 80 km of historic squawfish habitat from use by creation of a barrier to upstream migration (Martinez et al. 1994). Construction of the Kenney Reservoir project required a 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) As part of this permitting process USACOE requested the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to prepare a Biological Opinion under the Endangered Species Act on potential impacts to endangered species, including Colorado squawfish. USFWS also prepared a report on preventing losses and damage to wildlife according to the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act. Both reports were incorporated into the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project (USACOE 1982) . A Memorandum of Agreement between the Water User's Association No.l (project proponent), USFWS, and the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) was signed in 1982 to implement mitigation measures in the EIS. Two of these mitigation measures deal with stocking Colorado squawfish in the reservoir for the purposes of establishing a Colorado squawfish population upstream of the dam and for creating a reservoir sportfishery. This report describes the outcome of the fish stocking that was done to comply with those mitigation measures. In a three year period from 1988 to 1990, 96, 597 Colorado squawfish were stocked in Kenney Reservoir (Table 1). These fish originated from refugia stock at Dexter National Fish Hatchery in New Mexico. They were reared at Willow Beach National Fish Hachery, Arizona. CDOW and USFWS personnel jointly marked the fish and they were transported and planted in Kenney Reservoir by the USFWS. Monitoring of the stocked fish was the focus of a graduate research study from 1988 through 1990 supervised by the Colorado Cooperative Fishery and Wildlife Research Unit at Colorado State University, 1