BOARD02169

• Board Meeting Date: 5/24/1999
• Description: Endangered Fish Recovery, ISF Water Rights Applications - 15-Mile Reach and Yampa - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Habitat development

The Redlands Fish Ladder has allowed 42 Colorado pikeminnow and more
than 26,000 other native fish species to migrate around the 12-foot dam
and reach known spawning habitat upstream in the Gunnison River.

. A 350-foot-Iong fIsh ladder was completed at Redlands Diversion Dam on the Gunnison River
in 1996, giving endangered fish a pathway to migrate around the 12-foot dam and reach 57
miles of their historical habitat. After only three seasons, 42 endangered Colorado pikeminnow
and more than 26,000 other native fish have successfully used this structure.

. A fish passageway was completed in January 1998 at the Grand Valley Irrigation Company
Diversion Dam on the Colorado River. Fish now can move freely over this structure, gaining
access to more of their historical range. Colorado pikeminnow have been known to migrate
200 or more miles to spawn.

. Aoodplain/wetland habitat has been improved to benefit endangered fish at five Bureau of
Land Management sites on the Green River, three sites at the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge,
and two sites on the Colorado River near Grand Junction. These 10 sites provide a total of
1,500 acres of new habitat. Levees have been breached at these sites, allowing the river to spill
onto the floodplain during high flows. Young endangered fish grow signifIcantly faster in
these areas, which have warmer water and abundant food. These rich wetland areas also
provide many other benefits, such as conn'olling flooding, filtering water impUlities, and
supporting hundreds of species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and other wildlife.

. Recovery Program funds have been used to pay for easements and fees on eight properties
along the Green and Colorado rivers for a total of 580 acres of protected habitat. These
properties offer a rich variety of floodplain/wetland habitat types impOltant to endangered fish.

Native fish propagation and stocking

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The Ouray National Fish Hatchery is one of five facilities established by the
Recovery Program to raise endangered fish. These hatcheries and ponds
have raised thousands of the two rarest species - razorback suckers and
bonytails - that will be stocked into the wild this year. .
The following hatchery facilities have been established in Utah and Colorado:

. Ouray National Fish Hatchety (Utah): This 36-pond facility was established as a refuge for
razorback suckers from the Green River basin. The fish held at this hatchery are intended for
broodstock development, stocking, research, and education.

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. Wahweap Endangered Fish Facility (Utah); This site cun'ently provides II ponds to raise
bony tail to prevent extinction in the wild and for stocking into the Green, Colorado, and
Gunnison rivers. In summer 1999, another 14 ponds are to be excavated, for a total of 25.
Razorback suckers also are maintained here as a "back-up" supply and for stocking into the
Green, Colorado, Gunnison, and San Juan rivers.

. Horsethief Canyon State Wildlife Area (Colorado): The six ponds at this location are used to
raise razorback suckers for future stocking, primarily in the upper Colorado River, and to hold
smaller numbers of Colorado pikeminnow, bony tail, and humpback chubs.

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