9490

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9490
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Title: Final Environmental Assessment for Procedures for Stocking of Nonnative Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: Grand Junction.
• Copyright Material: NO

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Nonnative fish species compete with native fish species in several ways.
Physical factors in the environment regulate the capacity of a
particular area to support aquatic life. Suitable habitat and food
resources are the primary limiting factors. Because the amount of
physical habitat available is finite, increasing the number of species
present in the habitat usually equates to smaller populations of most
species. The size of each species population in the system is
controlled by the ability of each life stage to compete for habitat and
food resources. The species better adapted to the physical features of
the habitat would likely be a better competitor against less well
adapted species, and thus have larger populations. Native species were
well adapted to conditions in the basin prior to development, however,
under current altered conditions nonnative fishes are quite competitive
and viable.
C. Federal Action: This Environmental Assessment (EA) is being developed
under the implementing regulations of the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). The Federal action is the participation of the Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service) in a Cooperative Agreement that allows
routine stocking of nonnative fishes in situations that was be
determined through the NEPA and section 7 process.
D. Area to be Covered by Stocking Procedures: The selected stocking
procedures alternative will be presented to the wildlife commissions for
action, as appropriate, for the States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.
The procedures are intended to cover the Upper Colorado River Basin,
excluding the San Juan River drainage, which includes the Colorado River
and all its tributaries (Figure 1).
II. BACKGROUND
The purpose of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, is to provide a means to
conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend,
and to provide a program for the conservation of listed species. Under
authority of the Endangered Species Act, the Recovery Implementation Program
for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin (Recovery
Program) was formalized in January 1988. Signatories to this Recovery Program
were the Governors of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; the Secretary of the
Interior; and the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration. The
purpose of the Recovery Program is to recover the endangered fishes while
providing for existing and new water development to proceed in the Upper Basin
in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The Recovery Program is also
to serve as a reasonable and prudent alternative to avoid the likelihood of
jeopardy to the continued existence of the endangered fishes and to avoid the
destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat in section 7
consultations on water depletion impacts related to historic and new projects.
The five principal elements of the Recovery Program are: 1) habitat
management, 2) habitat development and maintenance, 3) native fish stocking,
4) nonnative species and sport fishing, and 5) research, data management, and
monitoring {Fish and Wildlife Service 1987}. The stocking procedures being
developed address number 4 above by implementing guidelines to reduce or
eliminate impacts from nonnative fishes.
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