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<br />COLORADO RIVER RECOVERY PROGRAM <br />FY 2002 ANNUAL REPORT <br /> <br />RECOVERY PROGRAM <br />PROJECT NUMBER: C-6bt <br /> <br />I. Project Title: <br /> <br />Evaluation of middle Green River floodplains for the restoration of bony tail. <br /> <br />II. Principal Investigators: <br /> <br />Tim Modde, Biologist <br />U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service <br />266 West 100 North Suite 2 <br />Vernal, UT 84078 <br />(435) 789-0354; Fax (435) 789-4805 <br />tim _ modde@fws.gov <br /> <br />Kevin Christopherson <br />Utah Division of Wildlife Resources <br />152 E. 100 N. <br />Vernal, UT 84078 <br />Phone: (435)789-3103; Fax (435) 789-8343 <br />E-mail: KevinChristopherson@utah.gov <br /> <br />III. Project Summary: <br /> <br />Little is known of bony tail Gila elegans life history. Even the question of what habitats <br />they occupied is unclear. Prior to mainstem impoundments bonytail were widespread among the <br />larger rivers of the Colorado River basin (Jordan and Evermann 1896). Although the most recent <br />captures of bony tail in the upper Colorado River basin were made in high gradient, canyon <br />reaches (summarized by Valdez et al. 2001), historical records suggest bony tail may have been <br />more abundant in alluvial reaches. <br /> <br />Among the large river fishes in the Colorado River basin, the bony tail has responded to <br />altered habitats in a manner more similar to the razorback sucker than other native species. <br />Unlike the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub or roundtail chub, both the razorback sucker <br />and bony tail are able to survive and reproduce in artificial impoundments. In addition, both <br />species seem to have flexible spawning requirements, having successfully spawned on gravel <br />bars or wind-swept gravel shorelines, and in ponds with little or no gravel substrate without flow. <br />If life history needs are similar to razorback sucker, then habitat restoration efforts being planned <br />for razorback sucker will also benefit bony tail. Although the current bony tail stocking plan for <br />the state of Utah specifies riverine stocking (Lentsch et al. 1996), the Colorado bony tail stocking <br />plan recognizes the potential need of floodplain habitat to restore bony tail (Nesler 1998). <br /> <br />C-6bt page 1 <br />