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<br />001601 <br /> <br />to near Mexican Hat, Utah. Four roundtail chub were collected, but no Colorado pikeminnow or <br />razorback sucker was collected. VTN Consolidated, Inc. and the Museum of Northern Arizona <br />(1978) sampled the river from Navajo Dam to Lake Powell. They collected one Colorado <br />pikeminnow, a juvenile, from near Aneth, Utah. Neitherrazorback sucker nor roundtail chub was <br />caught during the latter survey. In 1976, Neil Armantrout, a BLM fishery biologist in Moab, Utah, <br />took photographs of razorback sucker that were gathered from an irrigation pond near Bluff, Utah. <br />The pond was connected to the river, and the fish were stranded when it was drained. He showed <br />photographs of the fish to me for verification, and an account of the fish was included in a report <br />by VTN Consolidated, Inc. and the Museum of Northern Arizona (1978), and Minckley and <br />Carothers (1979). In 1977, the Colorado Squawfish Recovery Team sampled the river below <br />Hogback Diversion for a week in June with the intent of finding Colorado pikeminnow. <br />Electrofishing and seining were used, but neither Colorado pikeminnow nor roundtail chub was <br />collected, although large numbers offlannelmouth sucker and bluehead sucker were found. <br /> <br />SAN JUAN RIVER RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM <br />(SJRIP) AND RELATED STUDIES <br /> <br />By the late 1980s, the fish fauna of the San Juan River was still poorly understood. It was known <br />that common native fish species included flannelmouth sucker, bluehead sucker, and speckled dace; <br />that nonnative channel catfish (lctalurus punctatus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), fathead <br />minnow (Pimephales promelas), and red shiner were very abundant; and that rainbow <br />(Onchorynchus gairdneri) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) had replaced the native fishes below <br />Navajo Dam. It was also known that a small, reproducing population of Colorado pikeminnow still <br />occurred in the river, and that roundtail chub appeared to be relatively rare in the main river below <br />Navajo Dam (Minckley and Carothers 1979). But abundance of razorback sucker was unknown, <br />and reproductive success and detailed distribution for any of the native fish species were not well <br />understood. <br /> <br />Therefore, the San Juan River's importance to the two endangered fish species in particular, and <br />for roundtail chub and other native species, was not well understood. Hence, it was difficult to <br />determine how this river system fit into recovery efforts for these species and what the effect of <br />additional water development would be on these species. In 1987, following a request by the <br />USfWS and NMGF to stock razorback sucker in the San Juan River, the Bureau funded a NMGf <br />and UDWR 3-year study from Farmington, New Mexico, to Lake Powell to determine the <br />distribution and occurrence of endangered fish species, describe the fish community, describe <br />general habitat conditions, assess the suitability of the habitat for the rare fish species, and <br />recommend future recovery or management actions. The results of that study were reported by <br />Platania (1990). One adult razorback sucker and adult and young Colorado pikeminnow were <br />captured during the study, which provided a more-complete picture of the San Juan River fish <br />community. These findings prompted the USFWS to reinitiate consultation on the ALP, which <br />resulted in the 7-year research plan and subsequent study. <br /> <br />2-4 <br /> <br />Program Evaluation Report <br /> <br />September 2000 <br />