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, '( , , Colorado River near its confluence with the Colorado (Kaeding and Zimmerman 1983). Few early studies on the biology or ecological requirements of these fishes were made in lhe lower ~asin~ but their declines were documerited by Miller (1961), Minckley and Deacon (1968), and others. The four endangered fishes were still found in the unaltered upper basin (Fig. 8-1) during the early 1960s. Limited pre-impoundment studies indicated that numbers of some species were low and suggested that these fishes many -,-- never have been abundant. Competition for water resources intensified in the - upper basin during the 1960s. Various reports summarized supply and demand and evaluated alternative uses of the upper basin's water resources (g.g., -National Research Council 1968). The U.S. Water Resources Council (1968) completed a comprehensive study that provided appraisals of water resources and made projects or future water requirements, defined problems and needs, and presented a program for watef resourc~ development and conservation to the year 2020. The Water Resources Council concluded that ample water resources were available to meet sport fishing needs in the upper basin if minimum streamflows and adequate conservation pools in reservoirs were maintained. The report did not include conservation of endangered Colorado River fishes because their status was not recognized or appreciated. In the mid-1970s, the Western U.S. Water Plan (known as the Westwide Study), conceived under authority of the Colorado River Basin Act of 1968 proposed development of adequate information on water quality and quantity to serve as a basis for decisions on water and related resources in the 11 western states (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR] 1975). In 1976, the USFWS funded a symposium through Resources for the Future to summarize probable