WSP00586 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

,~ ~ ra CJ ..J c;:-) ~ ~. ~~ ~ c,n ~ r~ ! ,;l !~ ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .~ ~ ;. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Historically, the Colorado pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus lucius, occurred in the mainstem Colorado River and its tributaries from Wyoming to the Gulf of California. The San Juan River in New Mexico and Utah contains a small population of Colorado pikeminnow. The Colorado pikeminnow was listed as a federally endangered species in 1967 (32 Federal Register 4001) and is protected under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (39 Federal Register 1175). In 1991, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a Biological Opinion which required seven years of research to be conducted on the San Juan River and it's tributaries. One element of the San Juan River Seven-Year Research Program was to determine habitat requirements ofthe endangered species found in the San Juan River. The habitat utilization data will be used to fulfill the long range plan objective 5.2, specifically 5.2.5 and 5.2.6 (San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program Biology Committee 1995). The objective of this study was to describe habitat use by adult Colorado pikeminnow during summer months in the San Juan River. This study determined Colorado pikeminnow habitat use during the summer in the San Juan River, New Mexico and Utah. Although the study area included the entire San Juan River, radio implanted Colorado pikeminnow were only contacted in Reaches 3,4 and 5 for study years 1993 and 1994 and Reaches 5 and 6 for study year 1998. The most downstream contact occurred in 1994 near Bluff, Utah (RM 73,8). The farthest upstream contact was near Farmington, New Mexico (RM 178.8). Radio implanted fish were intensively tracked to determine both the location within a reach of river and the habitat use by those fish. Radio telemetry was conducted on seven wild adult Colorado pikeminnow that were opportunistically implanted in the spring of 1993 (4 fish) and 1994 (3 fish) with radio transmitters by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Grand Junction, CO) personneL Seven hatchery-reared Colorado pikeminnow were intensively followed during the summer of 1998. Any locations where the fish remained for more than 30 minutes were recorded, and if possible, habitat parameters were measured. Data on habitat characteristics near the fish location were acquired by habitat mapping on aerial videography plates and digitizing the habitat maps. Habitat maps were created for each separate fish location during the observation day. Habitat usage data included a sketch of the habitat surrounding the fish locations and included fish positions marked on the map. Data collected at the fish location included date, time of day, weather conditions, time monitored, and any notes on movement during the observation period. When possible, other physical habitat data was collected at each fish location. These measurements included water depth, water velocity (mean column and bottom), substrate type, proximity to cover, description of cover at the location, general description of the site; measurements of the habitat type including Colorado Pikeminnow Habitat Use in the San Juan River, New Mexico and Utah Miller Ecological Consultants, Inc. Page i. January 31,2000