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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />the desired stable base flow of 51 m3/sec (+ 12.5 % Pucherelli et al. 1990 , Tyus and Karp 1991, <br />U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1992), releases were usually decreased to as low as 22.3 m3/sec <br />soon after prescribed high spring flows ended because Yampa River dischazge was usually high. <br />Dam releases were increased later in summer after Yampa River dischazge declined and when <br />Green River discharge at Jensen fell below target levels. Summer discharge manipulations <br />altered thermal regimes in the regulated reach (see later section) because dischazge level and <br />water temperature aze inversely correlated in the Green River downstream of Flaming Gorge <br />Dam (Vanicek et al. 1970). <br />Composition and reproductive status of the fish community in the regulated reach, 1962- <br />1996.--Community composition and reproductive status of fish in the Green River upstream of <br />the Yampa River, as documented in previous studies, has changed dramatically since <br />construction of Flaming Gorge Dam (Table 1). Limited sampling during pre-impoundment <br />investigations in the present-day reservoir basin area suggested that eleven native and six <br />introduced fishes, and one catostomid hybrid inhabited that reach prior to 1960. All native <br />fishes, including endangered Colorado pikeminnow, bonytail Gila elegans, humpback chub Gila <br />cypha, and razorback sucker Xyrauchen texanus, inhabited the reach and likely reproduced there. <br />During reservoir filling from 1963 to 1967, sampling detected only seven native and eight <br />introduced taxa in the study azea. The limited reproduction noted for only a few species occurred <br />in 1965 when reservoir dischazge was relatively low and warm and only in downstream reaches. <br />Notable was the near absence of reproduction by native fishes in the regulated reach after normal <br />dam operations commenced in 1967. <br />Following penstock modifications that warmed reservoir releases in June 1978, sampling <br />detected a total of nine native and 13 introduced taxa and two hybrid sucker combinations. With <br />the exception of raze native or incidental non-native taxa, most fishes reproduced in the regulated <br />reach. Natives mountain whitefish Prosopium williamsoni, mountain sucker Catostomus <br />platyrhynchus, and mottled sculpin Cottus bairdi re-appeazed in collections, and first <br />14 <br />