1995 Washington, D.C. Briefing Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin

• Description: 1995 Washington, D.C. Briefing Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 5/16/1995
• Title: 1995 Washington, D.C. Briefing Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

• The Fish and Wildlife Service and States of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are developing pro-
cedures for stocking non - native fish in lakes and reservoirs in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
The procedures will ensure that such stocking is consistent with endangered fish recovery.
• Limited numbers of the rarest Colorado River fish are being raised in hatcheries as broodstock.
Last year, biologists transplanted 41 razorback suckers from a pond near Debeque, Colo., to
their natural habitat in the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. The fact that only about 10 percent of
these fish have survived demonstrates some of the challenges facing the Recovery Program.
• The Bureau of Reclamation constructed six two- tenths -acre "refuge" ponds for endangered fish
on the Horsethief Canyon State Wildlife Area near Fruita, Colo., in 1992.
• On the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge in northern Utah, a water supply and conditioning reser-
voir has been constructed and a total of 18 refuge ponds ranging in size from one -tenth acre to
two- tenths acre have been constructed to hold endangered fish.
• Biologists completed an inventory of flood plain habitats for 870 miles of the Colorado, Green,
Gunnison, Yampa and White rivers last year. This inventory has been used to identify sites that
could be restored to provide additional habitat for endangered fish.
• A 234 -acre wetland on the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge was restored in 1993. Researchers
installed structures to control water levels and prevent large non - native fish from swimming in.
• Environmental compliance is under way and a final design completed for the fish ladder at
Redlands Diversion Dam on the Gunnison River. Construction is scheduled to start in 1995 and
be completed in 1996. This project will open up 50 miles of historical habitat to the fish.
• Federal and state biologists completed a comprehensive report summarizing the first seven years
of the Interagency Standardized Monitoring Program, which tracks endangered fish populations.
Anglers proudly display their catch near Fruita, Colo., in the early
1900s. The now endangered Colorado squawfish once were common
in the Colorado River Basin.
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