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<br /> <br />Basinwide monitoring program sampling (Basinwide) began in 1996 with a goal to track <br /> <br />status and trends in abundance of razorback suckers in the Green River Basin of the upper <br />Colorado River Basin (Muth 1995; Muth et al. 1997). A Basinwide monitoring program was <br />deemed necessary to determine if restoration efforts were benefitting razorback suckers in the <br />Green River. This initial effort was focused only in the Green River but sampling techniques and <br />protocols may be applicable for monitoring razorback suckers throughout the upper Colorado <br />River basin. Sampling protocols used in this study for adults and early life stages were a <br />refinement of earlier work from 1992 to 1996, the rationale for which was discussed in Muth <br />(1995). Unfortunately, Basinwide monitoring program sampling produced relatively sparse data, <br />which made evaluation of status of razorback suckers in the Green River difficult. Sparse data <br />also limited our ability to develop and evaluate a monitoring program for razorback suckers, <br />which was a primary goal of this study. To bolster limited Basinwide program data, we <br />incorporated all available information from other sampling programs conducted during 1996 to <br />1999. This allowed us to make stronger inferences about the status of wild razorback suckers in <br />the Green River, which is the primary focus of this report. <br />STUDY AREA <br />The main study area was the Green River from the confluence of the Yampa River <br /> <br />downstream to the confluence with the Colorado River. A small number of fish were also <br />sampled in the lower portion of the Yampa, Duchesne, and San Rafael rivers during the course of <br />this program and in other studies. Channel morphology varied among canyon and valley reaches <br />of the Green River. In most canyon reaches, channel gradient was high, substrate was coarse, <br />2 <br />