7356

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7356
• Author: Wydoski, R. S. and J. F. Hamill.
• Title: Chapter 8 - Evolution of a Cooperative Recovery Program for Endangered Fishes in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• USFW Year: 1989.
• USFW - Doc Type: Draft.
• Copyright Material: NO

, ,

apply to USSR projects. Instead, USBR agreed to hold water in its reservoirs
for later release to habitats occupied by endangered fishes.
The Windy Gap Process provea to very controversial for the USFWS. In
testimony be--fore~ Congress,~ several environmental organizations alleged- the
process entailed "excessive and unnecessary risks of extinction for these
speciesll (Environmental Defense Fund et.M. 1985). The USFWS discontinued
the Windy Gap Process on large water development projects after 1985 and
formed an interagency Coordinating Committee to assist in developing a
Section 7 consultation proc?ss that was acceptable to both environmental and
water development interests.

Early Studies

Early detailed investigations of the biota of the upper Colorado River
basin were directed toward pre- and post-impoundment studies to answer
questions about water quality (Sigler et ~. .1966; Tsivoglov et ~. 1959) and
the probable effects of future alterations in water quality and streamflow on
gamefish (Powell 1958; Weber 1959; Coon 1965).
In March 1963, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall requested the Utah
Cooperative Fishery Research Unit to investigate changes in habitat and fish
populations of the Green River in DNM, Colorado-Utah, resulting from the 1962
poisoning operation and closure of Flaming Gorge Dam. In 1963-1966, these
studies concluded that cold water releases caused the disappearance of the
Colorado squawfish, bony tail, humpback chub, and razorback sucker from the
105-km reach below the dam (Vanicek 1967; Vanicek et ~. 1970). However,
these studies also found that the Green River below its confluence with the
Yampa River still contained the endangered Colorado River fishes, a presumed