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<br />fishes were captured. A summary of the geographical distribution of the endangered <br />fishes with physical descriptions of the strata sampled is given in the Appendix. <br />However, study results may not be directly comparable, because the different <br />~ geographic areas may have been sampled by different protocols and in different <br />seasons or years. <br />Colorado pikeminnow <br />~ The Colorado pikeminnow is now restricted to the UCRB and persists in only four <br />populations, which are located in the Yampa River, the Green River below its <br />confluence with the Yampa River, the upper Colorado River (including the lower <br />Gunnison River), and the lower San Juan River (USFWS 1991, 1994a). The present <br />distribution and abundance of the Colorado pikeminnow in the upper Colorado River <br />~ has been documented thoroughly by Valdez et al. (1982) and Osmundson and <br />Burnham (1996). The distribution appears to have changed little from the time of earlier <br />surveys conducted by Holden and Stalnaker (1975) and Seethaler (1978). The ISMP <br />has provided additional information on abundance and short-term population <br />fluctuations (McAda et al. 1994a,b,1995; Osmundson et al. 1996), and there is some <br />~ evidence of recent, and relatively high levels of recruitment during some years. <br />Although the Colorado pikeminnow is classified as a warmwater species, adults are <br />cold tolerant (Wick and Hawkins 1989). Most adults move to upstream reaches after <br />spawning and establish home ranges in cooler tributary streams for most of the year. <br />~ Evidence for this pattern in the Green River basin includes tag returns, dead fish, <br />photos by anglers, and other unpublished records on file at the USFWS office in Vernal, <br />UT. In unblocked streams, some adult fish move as far upstream as the lower portions <br />of Coldwater trout reaches (e.g., Steamboat Springs in the Yampa River and Swallow <br />Canyon in the upper Green River), although most of the adult fish select slightly warmer <br />. areas for residence during most of the year (e.g., Yampa River from Williams Fork to <br />Juniper Springs, Colorado; USFWS 1987). <br />The two largest extant populations occur in the Green River basin: one that spawns in <br />the lower Yampa River, and one that spawns in the lower Green River. Adult <br />pikeminnow occupy about 520 mi of river channel divided almost equally between the <br />~ Green River (240 mi) and its two main tributaries, the Yampa and the White rivers (280 <br />mi). Adults are found in the Yampa River from its mouth to Craig, in the White River <br />from its mouth to Meeker, and in the Green River from the Yampa confluence upstream <br />to Swallow Canyon in Browns Park. The Green River mainstream below its junction <br />with the Yampa River was once thought to contain about 8,000 adult fish, or about 23 <br />~ fish per mile (Tyus 1991), and the Green River basin (including Green, Yampa, and <br />White rivers) probably supports twice that many adults. <br />The Colorado pikeminnow population in the UCR consists of approximately 600 - 650 <br />subadult and adult fish (Osmundson and Bumham 1996). McAda and Kaeding <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />