1996 Washington, D.C. Briefing Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin

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Recovery Program overview The Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fishes of the Upper Colorado River Basin is a 15 -year, interagency partnership aimed at recovering endangered Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, bonytail and razorback sucker while providing for future water development. The program was launched in 1988, when the Governors of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming; the Secretary of the Interior; and the Administrator of Western Area Power Administration signed a cooperative agreement initiat- ing the program and committing each participant to implementing the program's elements. Program participants are: • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • U.S. Bureau of Reclamation • Western Area Power Administration • State of Colorado • State of Utah • State of Wyoming • Colorado Water Congress • Utah Water Users Association • Wyoming Water Development Association • National Audubon Society • Environmental Defense Fund • Colorado Wildlife Federation • Wyoming Wildlife Federation • Colorado River Energy Distributors Association The program has brought together a diverse group of public and private interests that has made significant strides toward endangered fish recovery. These are explained in more detail later, but here are a few highlights: • Colorado squawfish populations are showing signs of improvement in the Green River, perhaps in response to changes in operation of Flaming Gorge Dam. • The Bureau of Reclamation has improved endangered fish habitat by altering the timing of releases from Flaming Gorge and Blue Mesa reservoirs. The amount of water affected by these changes totals 2.5 million acre -feet each year. • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stocked about 900 5 -inch razorback suckers in the Green River at Dinosaur National Monument and more than 300 4- to 8 -inch razorbacks in the Gunnison River upstream of Delta, Colo. • Construction of a fish ladder on the Gunnison River near Grand Junction, Colo., will be com- plete this spring. The ladder, built at the Redlands Diversion Dam, will provide access to more than 50 miles of endangered fish habitat. • The Colorado Water Conservation Board has filed for in- stream flow rights to benefit endan- gered fish on the Colorado and Yampa rivers. • Nearly 30 hatchery ponds have been completed in Colorado and Utah to aid in captive rearing of endangered fish. 7