8204 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Part II. RECOVERY Organization and Priorities The Colorado River Compact divided the Colorado River system into upper and lower basins at Lees Ferry, AZ in 1922. This legacy is so strong and pervasive that it makes a logical point of departure for organizing recovery efforts. In addition, institutional recovery frameworks are roughly aligned along an upper-lower basin axis, such as the Upper Colorado River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (operational), and the Lower Colorado River Multispecies Conservation Program (still in an early stage of planning). The San Juan River basin is the exception because it has its own Recovery Implementation Program. Recovery objectives and criteria for the razorback sucker can best be accomplished using atwo-basin concept: the upper and lower Colorado River basins. This concept recognizes fundamentally different approaches to recovery that may be needed in these two locations, and also that different entities assume primary responsibilities for different parts of the basin. Priorities for recovery within each basin will be established on the basis of important extant populations and recovery areas for which critical habitat evaluations suggest high potential. The designation of priorities does not exclude other populations or critical habitat from the protection afforded by the Act, but does provide. a mechanism for focusing attention and resources on recovery actions needed in the most promising locations. Recovery Goals The short-term goal for recovery of the razorback sucker is to prevent extinction. The goal shall be attained when the continuing decline of the three extant stocks of the razorback sucker in Lake Mojave (Arizona and Nevada), and in the lower Yampa River (Colorado) and middle Green River (Utah) has been reversed, as indicated by increasing population sizes produced by natural recruitment. The long-term goal is to recover the fish to the point that it may be down listed and then delisted. Fragmentation of the habitat of this species by construction of dams and diversion has resulted in isolated populations and recovery areas. Because of continuing environmental change, prudence dictates that the safety of this species will require recovery of a number of these isolates. After the short-term goal is attained, down listing will be possible when populations have been established and protected in the lower Green and San Juan rivers, and one additional population has been established and protected in the upper or lower basin. After the fish has been down listed to threatened, delisting will be possible when a total of two additional populations, one in the upper and one in the lower basin (i.e., a total of five new or recovered populations in addition to the three extant populations) have been established by natural recruitment and protected. 35