6010

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 6010
• Author: Binns, A., et al.
• Title: The Planning, Operation, and Analysis of the Green River Fish Control Project.
• USFW Year: 1964.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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EVALUATION OF TREATMENT EFFICIENCY
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The rotenone treatment project planned for the Green River was of
such a scope as to present many unknowns relative to treatment effectiveness,
post treatment re-entry of fish species, and decimation and recovery of
invertebrate populations. The size of the treatment area, and the wide
variety of stream conditions involved, indicated that post-treatment develop-
ments on other projects might be different from those on the Green River.
Accordingly, under authorization of the Federal Aid to Fisheries Act (~J F~25-R-2),
the Wyoming Department initiated, in June of 1962, a detailed program of stream
fauna investigations. From June until the start of the rehabilitation in
September, numerous invertebrate and fish collections were made throughout the
upstream 130 miles of the Green River treatment area and the entire treatment
area of the New Fork River. The data from these initial collections are
providing a set of comparative standards for continuing month to month investi-
gations of post-treatment developments. During the operation, information
wa:> gathered on chronology of treatment, water chemistry, water temperatures,
rotenone concentrations developed in the river, completeness of the fish kill, ~4:
and species of fish killed.
To aid in establishing the chronology of toxication, live cages
containing fingerling carp were placed in the Green and New Fork Rivers two
to three days prior to the introduction of rotenone on September ~+. Each
station, with the exceptions of numbers 12 and 15 where no cages were placed, had
at least two such cages located on its upstream side. One cage was set in the
shallows and the second as far out in the river as depth and current would permit.
In some cases current deflectors were constructed of flat rocks. The live cages
~h~ere checked prior to treatment to assure the survival of their contents and
rechecked, during treatment, as often as possible. Additional data relating to
rotenone movement was based on direct observation.
The rotenone concentrations of the river water were measured by a
:olorimetric rotenone test (Post, 1955) and by field and laboratory bio-assay.
'he water samples designated for laboratory bio-assay were packed in ice and
taken to Green River, Wyoming, where the U.S. Public Health Service made the
analysis.
Field bio-assay work was carried out using a method similar to
hat described in the 11th edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of
later and Waste Water, 1960. The procedures and experimental conditions, as
escribed, were followed as closely as was possible under field conditions.
shortage of test fish limited the field bio-assay work to one series of
eterminations made at a point three-fourths of a mile downstream from Green'
fiver Station 1, on September ~+, 1962. Test fish used were fingerling carp
hich had been acclimated to the river water for 2~+ hours prior to use. The
ncontaminated water used in the bio-assay work was taken from the river
mmediately prior to treatment and stored in milk cans. The test containers
ere four-quart polyethylene buckets, each containing five fish and placed in
_Ze river to minimize temperature fluctuations in the water being tested. The
ime required for all five fish in a test container to lose equilibrium was
sed as a measure of toxicity, One test container was set up as a control and
~ mortality was noted. The graphical curve from which estimates of the
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