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INTRODUCTION <br />BAC%GROUND <br />Provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Public Law (P.L.) 93- <br />205) charge that Federal agencies consider the needs of listed species, <br />consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)~and obtain biological <br />opinions about potential effects of planned projects. Because of continuing <br />water resource development in Upper Colorado River Basin, FWS and the Bureau <br />of Reclamation (BR), in cooperation with the states of Colorado and Utah, <br />investigated life history and habitat requirements of Colorado River rare and <br />endangered fishes from 1979 to 1986. Several studies resulting from that <br />effort are summarized here. <br />The Colorado River Fishes Project (CRFP), a three year study (1979-1981) <br />of endangered Colorado River fishes: Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus <br />Lucius), humpback chub (Gila cypha), and bonytail chub (Gila elegans), <br />initiated the investigations. This project expanded the limited information <br />base and addressed instream flow needs of endangered fish populations in the <br />upper mainstem Colorado and Green river Sub-basins. Study design included a <br />Standardized Sampling Program (SSP), concerned with distribution, relative <br />abundance, and habitat utilization of all fish species, and a Special <br />Investigations program, concerned with life history requirements of care and <br />endangered fishes. A final report was completed April 1962 (Miller et al. <br />1982c). Another report provided additional radiotelemetry information that <br />was not available for the 1982 report (Miller et al. 1983). <br />Two other Vernal Field Station studies were conducted concurrently with <br />the CRFP work: the Yampa River Fishes Study (Miller et al. 1982b) and the <br />1 <br />