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<br />~->") <br />~ <br />00 <br />~ <br />C:J <br />"~ <br />~-' <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 (1978) <br />sampled the river from Navajo Dam to Lake Powell. They collected one Colorado pikeminnow, ajuvenile, <br />from near Aneth, Utah. Neither razorback sucker nor roundtail chub was caught during the latter slliVey. <br />In 1976, Neil Armantrout, a BLM fishe1Y biologist in Moab, Utah, took photographs of razorback sucker <br />that were gathered from an irrigation pond near Bluff, Utah. The pond was connected to the river, and the <br />fish were stranded when it was drained. He showed photographs of the fish to me for verification, and an <br />account of the fish was included in a report by VTN Consolidated, Inc. and the Museum of Northern <br />Arizona (1978), and Minckley and Carothers (1979). In 1977, the Colorado SquawfishRecove1Y Team <br />sampled the river below Hogback Diversion for a week in June with the intent of finding Colorado <br />pikeminnow. Electrofishing and seining were used, but neither Colorado pikeminnow nor roundtail chub <br />was collected, although large numbers of flannelmouth 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 that <br />common native fish species included flannelmouth sucker, bluehead sucker, and speckled dace; that <br />nonnative channel catfish ([ctalurus punctatus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), fathead minnow <br />(Pimephales promelas), and red shiner were ve1Y abundant; and that rainbow (Onchorynchus gairdneri) <br />and brown trout (Salmo trutta) had replaced the native fishes below Navajo Dam. It was also known that <br />a small, reproducing population of Colorado pikeminnow still occurred in the river, and that roundtail chub <br />appeared to be relatively rare in the main river below Navajo Dam (Minckley and Carothers 1979). But <br />abundance of razorback sucker was unknown, and reproductive success and detailed distribution for any <br />of the native fish species were not well understood. <br /> <br />Therefore, the San Juan River's importance to the two endangered fish species in particular, and for <br />roundtai1 chub and other native species, was not well understood. Hence, it was difficult to detennine how <br />this river system fit into recove1Y efforts for these species and what the effect of additional water <br />development would be on these species. In 1987, following a request by the USFWS and NMGF to <br />stock razorback sucker in the San Juan River, the Bureau funded a NMGF and UDWR 3-year study from <br />Fannington, New Mexico, to Lake Powell to detennine the distribution and occurrence of endangered fish <br />species, describe the fish community, describe general habitat conditions, assess the suitability of the habitat <br />for the rare fish species, and recommend future recove1Y or management actions. The results of that study <br />were reported by Platania (1990). One adult razorback sucker and adult and young Colorado pikeminnow <br />were 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 resulted in <br />the 7 -year research plan and subsequent study. <br /> <br />September 2000 <br /> <br />24 <br /> <br />Program Evaluation Report <br />