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<br />the Colorado squawfish was last revised in 1991. <br />Region 6 of the FWS was given the lead for the devel- <br />opment of these plans, but was supported by an <br />appointed team of experts on these fishes from <br />throughout the Colorado River Basin. While these <br />plans address the recovery of the listed fishes in both <br />the Upper and Lower Basins, they preceded the critical <br />habitat designations, are otherwise out of date, and do <br />not offer specific prescriptions on where or how habi- <br />tats should be protected, restored, or managed. Region <br />6 also has the lead for the razorback recovery plan, <br />whose initial technical draft is scheduled to be circulat- <br />ed soon to a basin-wide recovery team. The FWS has <br />asked for an ecosystem framework for the razorback <br />plan into which updated recovery plans for the other <br />three fishes may be integrated. <br /> <br />The goal of the current recovery plan for the Colorado <br />squawfish is generally stated in terms of protecting <br />"naturally self-sustaining populations" in three major <br />recovery areas: the Green and upper Colorado River <br />subbasins, the San Juan River subbasin, and the Lower <br />Basin. The plan does not define what constitutes a <br />self-sustaining population. Since the Colorado squaw- <br />fish populations in the Green/upper Colorado and San <br />Juan subbasins are separated by Lake Powell, this <br />recovery plan assumes that these populations are "dis- <br />tinct" under Section 3(16) of the ESA and may be <br />independently recovered and down or de-listed in one <br />of these areas and not the other. The Colorado squaw- <br />fish no longer occurs naturally in the Lower Basin, and <br />the importance of recovery sites in the Lower Basin <br />depends on whether self-sustaining populations can be <br />re-established and the needed streamflows can be legal- <br />ly protected in that basin. <br /> <br />The general recovery goal for the humpback chub is <br />defined in terms of protecting five "viable, self-sustain- <br /> <br />ing populations" and their habitat. This plan recog- <br />nizes five primary recovery areas which are currently <br />occupied by humpback chub, all in the Upper Basin or <br />the Grand Canyon - 1) the confluence of the <br />Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers in the Grand <br />Canyon, 2) the Black Rocks/Westwater Canyon reaches <br />of the upper Colorado River, 3) the Green and Yampa <br />Rivers in Dinosaur National Monument, 4) Gray and <br />Desolation Canyons along the Green River, and 5) <br />Cataract Canyon along the Colorado River just above <br />Lake Powell, and mentions that the humpback might <br />be re-introduced into another area of the Grand <br />Canyon. This plan neither suggests that the humpback <br />can be recovered independently in each of these areas, <br />nor defines what constitutes a viable, self-sustaining <br />population. <br /> <br />The immediate goal of the recovery plan for the bony- <br />tail chub is to prevent its extinction by establishing <br />genetically diverse, captive populations in at least two <br />refugia. The highest priority sites for re-introducing <br />the bonytail suggested by this plan are all in the Upper <br />Basin: 1) the Green and Yampa Rivers in Dinosaur <br />National Monument, 2) the Green River in Gray and <br />Desolation Canyons, and the San Juan River. The plan <br />characterizes the Lake Mohave bonytail population in <br />the Lower Basin as a "wild refugium", and calls for the <br />evaluation of other Lower Basin areas for their poten- <br />tial as recovery sites for this fish. <br /> <br />All of these recovery plans include monitoring of exist- <br />ing populations and research on their life histories, the <br />control of non-native fishes that may be limiting the <br />survival or recruitment of the listed fishes, and the arti- <br />ficial propagation of listed fishes for research and pos- <br />sible augmentation of wild populations. <br />Re-introduction and population augmentation is to be <br />preceded by habitat protection or restoration in all of <br /> <br />47 <br />