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t <br />Study Area <br />The study area encompasses much of Central Arizona and. <br />includes three mainstream rivers and 10 tributary streams <br />(Fig. i). These are: the Gila River and its tributaries, Bonita <br />and Eagle creeks upstream of Safford; the Salt River above <br />Roosevelt Lake (tributaries - Coon, Cherry, Canyon, Carrizo, <br />Cedar creeks); and the Verde River (West Clear, Wet Beaver, Oak <br />creeks) from Horseshoe Dam upstream to perkinsville. <br />The Gila River is a shallow, wide and shifting stream course <br />with typically low flow and warm water temperatures in summer and <br />highest discharge in winter (Minckley 1979). Bonita and Eagle <br />creeks are more heterogeneous in habitat composition, smaller in <br />size, and generally less disturbed physically, flowing through a <br />structural trough and a deep canyon, respectively, before <br />entering the Gila (Clarkson 1979). <br />The Salt River drains the White Mountains in a southwesterly <br />direction, flowing over Apache Falls (an upstream barrier to fish <br />movement), through the Salt River Canyon. It is characterized by <br />long (1+ km), deep runs, numerous gravel riffles, and large <br />boulders washed in from side canyons. Coon, Cherry, Canyon, <br />Carrizo, and Cedar creeks enter the Salt from the north. These <br />perennial streams are confined to narrow channels in smaller <br />canyons that drain the Mogollon Rim. <br />The northwestern portion of the study area is the middle and <br />upper Verde River drainage with more than 150 stream km in the <br />Verde mainstem alone. The Verde River heeds in the Big Chino <br />Valley, flowing southeasterly through a narrow canyon below <br />-2- <br />