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<br />(1991 a) speculated that there have been no major changes in population size since the <br />1970s. Because strong year classes are infrequent, recruitment may not support the <br />present numbers over a long period of time (Osmundson and Burnham 1996). Most of <br />~ the adult fish are found in the upper 60 mi of river below the Grand Valley diversion <br />(Valdez et al. 1982, Osmundson et al. 1995, 1997). Adults also occur in the lower <br />Gunnison River (Burdick 1995), and spawning was confirmed by capture of larvae in <br />1994, 1995, and 1996 (Anderson, unpublished data). The younger fish tend to occupy <br />lower river reaches (Valdez et al. 1982, Osmundson et al. 1997). <br />~ The San Juan River contains a small population of Colorado pikeminnow, and <br />collections of young fish indicate that the population is reproducing (Platania et al. <br />1991, Ryden and Ahlm 1996). <br />In general, each of the known populations is associated with a primary nursery area <br />~ that harbors larvae from one or more spawning sites. In the Colorado River, the Green <br />River system, and the San Juan River, adults are most prevalent in river reaches at, or <br />upstream of, spawning areas (Tyus 1986, Tyus and Haines 1991, Osmundson and <br />Burnham 1996, Ryden and Ahlm 1996). However, the present concentrations of adults <br />may be restricted to river reaches below barriers that block migrations. Examples of <br />~ such blockages include Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River (Vanicek 1967) and <br />Taylor Draw Dam on the White River (Trammell et al. 1993). <br />Humpback chub <br />~ Information about the historical distribution of humpback chub is sparse, in part, <br />because the fish was not described as a species until relatively recently (Miller 1946, <br />Valdez and Clemmer 1982). The largest extant population of humpback chub occurs in <br />the Grand Canyon in the vicinity of the confluence of Little Colorado River (LCR) and <br />Colorado River. Recent estimates of the population place the number of adults in the <br />range of 4,500 to 10,400 fish (Douglas and Marsh 1996), which includes about 2,680 to <br />4,280 in the mainstream (Valdez and Ryel 1995). The humpback chub was first <br />reported in the UCRB in the 1970s (Holden 1977, Valdez and Clemmer 1982), however <br />museum collections document the existence of a population in the Yampa River in 1948 <br />(Tyus 1998). The humpback chub has persisted in the Colorado and Green river <br />systems, and is reproducing successfully in the Yampa and upper Colorado rivers <br />~ (Tyus et al. 1982, Archer et al. 1985, Kaeding et al. 1990, Karp and Tyus 1990). In the <br />upper Colorado River, Valdez et al. (1982) captured 238 humpback chub, but nearly all <br />(229) came from Black Rocks and Westwater Canyon. The population in Westwater <br />Canyon probably consists of several thousand fish, but the precision of the estimate is <br />very poor (B. Burdick, personal communication; T. Chart, unpublished data). <br />Population size of humpback chub in Black Rocks and Westwater canyons is thought to <br />be relatively stable (Kaeding et al. 1990, McAda et al. 1994). <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />