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Potential sites selected for raising endangered fish By Connie Young Public Information Specialist Colorado Division of Wildlife DENVER - Raising four species of rare fish in a Colorado hatchery has moved a step ~Ioser to reality now that state and federal experts have selected 31 potential West Slope and San Luis Valley sites. Notification leners were sent to site sponsors in March. The sites will be evaluated through a $245.000 study authorized in 1989 by the Colorado Legislature to detennine the feasibility' of constructing a hatch- ery in Colorado for endangered fish. The Colorado Water Conservation Board, assisted by an advisory commit- tee of the Colorado Division of Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. selected the sites based on their proximity to endangered fish habitat or the presence of wann water needed by these fish. URS Consultants, an Englewood engineering fmu, is con- ducting the study for the Board. The study is part of the Recovery Program for Endangered Fish of the Upper Colorado River Basin. 1bis 15- year program is aimed 'at recovering Colorado squawfish, razorback suck- ers, hwnpback chub and bonytail chub while allowing water development to proceed. "Without an active stocking pro- ~~.lIL'i .~niff~L~~~l~~f~~~ e.ditor,' ColiiradoDivisiiiiiol ......~~cJiitf:g3f2~~~~~..~r~er;..... . .. ............ii......6~O{:6XS).;WS....I...t...e.........s... {iiii......ii.... ......\... ................... . : ::. :".";'..~. :: ," ::::.::.::::.(:::.:.:./.G:'~:::~....:. .~. ..:.~.::..;:....:...:. : :..:;:-::::;::::.::::::":'":/"(:.: .::;".=.:" "::.:_,.:::::::: ... '.:.'0"" ... . ... .... gram, recovery could take a very long time or might not be possible at all," said. Gene Jencsok, principal water resource specialist for the Board. 'The Colorado. Water Conservation Board and other water interests believe stock- ing is essential to recovery." The proposed hatchery would raise endangered fish for stocking stretches of river where fish populations have severely dwindled, establishing adult "brood" stock, holding fish in protected areas off the river and conducting research on recovery. Designs for the facility also will include a visitors' area with infonnation on the fish. The advisory comminee and URS COnsultants will first nalTOw the list of 31 sites to about 10 and then to three by late summer or early fall. Criteria to be used in screening the sites include water availability, quality and tempera- ture; proximity to endangered fish habitat; land availability; site accessi. bility; construction requirements; and cost By March 1992, URS will develop preliminary designs for the three sites and will estimate their construction and operation costs. 3 .... .. . .. ..... . .. . . . ....,.: . . . ." .."".. . ... '"':.., .. . .. .. . .. . .. . ... .. .. . :: '. . '.. . . . ..... .. .... . . ",. ; The final decision on whether and where to build a hatchery will rest with Water Conservation Board. Colorado Division of Wildlife and Recovery Program administrators. Questions yet to be answered include how the hatch- ery would be-funded, whether hatchery fish can survive and reproduce in the wild and whether there are genetic dif- ferences between fish from different rivers. "Hatcheries are an important tool in the recovery program, and we recog- nize the need for some type of facility," said John Hamill, director of the Recovery Program. "But there is no commitment to build anything yet" A wrinen agreement to establish the Recovery Program was signed in 1988 by the governors of Colorado. Utah and Wyoming; secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior; and admin- istrator of the Western Area Power Administratiolt Stocking of native fish is one of five elements of the Recovery Program; others are habitat manage- ment and in-stream flows; habitat development; non-native species and sport-fishing; and research, monitoring and data management