7770

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7770
• Author: Trammell, M. A.
• Title: Evaluation of Colorado Squawfish Stocking in Kenney Reservoir, Rangely, Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1991.
• USFW - Doc Type: Colorado State University,
• Copyright Material: NO

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' An agreement between the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW), the
USFWS and the Water User's Association #1 (WUA1) in Rio Blanco County was
' required before the USFWS would give a non-jeopardy opinion to the U. S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE), allowing the dam to be built. The
' agreement provided for, a series of wildlife mitigation and fish

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conservation measures to be performed by the WUA1. Two conditions of the
agreement that directly affected this study are sections which state, "...
the feasibility of developing a reservoir fishery for the Colorado
squawfish will be studied. ... the sportfishing potential of this fish
will be fully explored."; and "Attempt to artificially establish by
stocking a Colorado squawfish population in the reservoir and upstream if
the upstream reach cannot support a self sustaining population."
Exploring the sportfishing potential of squawfish in Kenney Reservoir is
also included in the Recovery Plan for the Colorado squawfish (CRFRT
1988).
There are no records of Colorado squawfish reproducing in the White
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River above Rangely; no collections of larval or YOY squawfish and no
suitable spawning conditions occur in the White River in Colorado (Carlson
et al 1979, ERI 1983, Haynes et al 1984, Martinez 1986) . In 1 fight of
this, the USFWS began a squawfish stocking program in 1988, calling for
50,000 fingerling squawfish to be stocked in each of three years. After
the first stocking in 1988, initial surveys by the CDOW of the river and
reservoir indicated the stocked squawfish had dispersed throughout the
reservoir and moved into downstream areas. The study reported here was
begun in 1989 to further evaluate this and subsequent stockings of
squawfish in Kenney Reservoir. Primarily, the objective was to evaluate