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together, their aquatic habitats are linked together into limited riparian corridors. Because of <br />the linkages between our streams and rivers, the sensitivity of our western landscapes to <br />depletion and erosion, and the subsequent vulnerability of our limited stream and lake resources <br />to impacts within their drainages, the watershed approach to management of aquatic wildlife in <br />Colorado would appear to be the only viable alternative for achieving this vision. Since the <br />greatest diversity of wildlife in Colorado is considered to be associated with the riparian <br />corridors that are dependent upon aquatic habitats, degradation of these systems also affects a <br />significant number of terrestrial wildlife species. <br />There are 82 watersheds in Colorado defined as distinct hydrologic units. These hydro <br />units define the major watersheds in the state, of which 10 are proposed here. The Platte, <br />Republican and Arkansas river basins contain the highest numbers of native aquatic wildlife <br />species, while the Rio Grande and 6 sub - basins of the Colorado River (Yampa, White, <br />Colorado, Gunnison, Dolores, San Juan) have distinctly different aquatic fauna from the east <br />slope basins. Within each watershed or river basin there also exists distinct ecological zones that <br />also define the aquatic communities, their habitat and management needs. For the purposes of <br />defining a starting point, four major aquatic ecosystems are proposed here based on elevational <br />and geologic differences. These are eastern plains, front range transition, montane, and western <br />plateau. This results in 1 to 3 distinct aquatic ecosystems in each river basin and suggests 20 <br />aquatic community management units statewide within the 10 major river basins. <br />Based on the apparent trends summarized above, the need is great for the Division to <br />place significant emphasis on the necessary inventories, research, and status assessments to most <br />effectively direct the resources of this agency toward meeting the goal of maintaining self - <br />sustaining populations of all its native wildlife and their habitat. The need is also great for a <br />cooperative and interactive framework of federal, state, and local government agencies, and <br />private organizations and individuals be established in order for the Division to successfully <br />manage nongame wildlife in the larger context of watershed recovery and complex management <br />issues. <br />2 <br />