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PREFACE In July, 1975, the Bureau of Land Management contracted with Colorado State University for a baseline survey of the fishes and aquatic macroinverte- brates of selected reaches of the lJhite and Yampa Rivers in Colorado. This survey was proposed to compliment work done by the Colorado Division of Wild- life and other resource agencies prior to the onset of coal strip-mining activities in northwestern Colorado. General objectives of the study were to gather quantitative data on 1) distribution, abundance and diversity of fish and macroinvertebrate communities of the two streams; 2) age, growth, condi- tion, and food habits of common fishes; and 3) quality of habitat for fish and macroinvertebrate communities. Specific studies varied widely within this general framework. Work on fishes was restricted on the Yampa River to the portion between Hayden, Colorado, and the Lily Park Pool area, 3 to 4 km west of Cross Mountain Canyon, and on the White River to an area between Rio Blanco Lake and Spring Creek. Macroinvertebrates were collected from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to Cross Mountain on the Yampa and from Meeker to Rangely, Colorado, on the White River. Two Graduate Research Assistants, Charles G. Prewitt and Elizabeth L. Ames, began field work in July of 1975. In 1976, Graduate Assistants Darrel E. Snyder and Edmund J. Wick joined the study team. Ms. Ames conducted a 2-year study of the aquatic macroinvertebrates of the Yampa and White Rivers. Mr. Prewitt's and h1r. Wick's work was concentrateu on fishes (particularly catos- tomids) and physical-chemical characteristics (fish habitat) of the two streams. Mr. Snyder's work and some of Mr. Wick's work emphasized the larval and early juvenile fishes of the two rivers. All of these individuals and their super- vising professors (Clarence A. Carlson and W. Don Fronk) have contributed to this final project report.