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.. ~. ~ .;.... :':;.. ;. . J;"". o0243S Among the non-structural options, supply interruption contracts provide greater Dotential reliability than instream flow water rights, because the latter would be junior to all prior water rights. However, supply interruption contracts face significant legal and institutional hurdles and, if adjudicated for instream use, that use may not enjoy the same seniority as the underlying inigation right. Base-flow augmentation will not interfere in any way with Yampa Basin water users exercising their water rights, I ~ i , Nonnative fishes adversely impact the endangered fishes and other native species by feeding upon and/or competing with them, Management actions herein include measures to reduce the impacts of sportfish such as northern pike, smallmouth bass and channel catfish, on the endangered fishes. Measures include screening reservoirs to prevent escapement of sport fish to the river, implementing stocking regulations to preclude stocking nonnative species to any water from which escapement to the river is likely, and active removal of nonnative fishes from the river. While some species may be lethally controlled in some river reaches, Yampa Basin residents desire to maintain healthy in- basin sport fisheries. Therefore, sport fish such as northern pike and smallmouth bass removed from the river will be placed in publicly accessible ponds and reservoirs, subject to availability, that are hydrologically isolated from the river, screened or othelWise modified to preclude escapement. The Recovery Program will identify and evaluate high-priority flooded bottomland habitats along the Middle Green River between Ouray and Jensen, Utah, acquire an interest in the best habitats, and improve their habitat value by removing levees to allow spring floods to inundate floodplain depressions, overflow channels, backwaters and oxbows, which serve as nursery habitats for YampalGreen river populations ofrazorback sucker and Colorado pikeminnow. The Recovery Program has determined that existing diversion structures within critical habitat on the Yampa River (Echo Park to Craig, Colorado) do not impede passage of Colorado pikeminnow during their seasonal migrations, These diversions are upstream from reaches utilized by razorback sucker and humpback chub. The Recovery Program will develop guidelines to ensure that any new diversion structures and dams accommodate fish passage and to reduce impacts of maintaining diversion structures within critical habitat. The Recovery Program also will determine whether Colorado pikeminnow enter and become stranded by existing Yampa River diversions by sampling ditches after the irrigation season. If Colorado pikeminnow are found stranded in any of the ditches, the Recovery Program will implement measures, such as installing screens near ditch intakes, to reduce or eliminate such incidental take due to existing structures. The Recovery Program developed the following genetic management goals for endangered fishes: (1) prevent immediate extinction; (2) conserve genetic diversity through recovery efforts to establish viable wild stocks by removing or significantly reducing factors that caused the population declines; (3) maintain the genetic diversity of captive-reared fish; and (4) produce genetically diverse fish for augmentation efforts. Supplemental stocking of the Middle GreenlLower Yampa razorback sucker population is a high priority of the Recovery Program. Restoring bonytail populations in Lodore Canyon (Green River) and Echo Park (Yampa River) through stocking also is a high priority. I ~ ~i Separate performance criteria will be developed for each of the management actions described in this plan to I) ensure that they are implemented in a timely manner, 2) evaluate their effectiveness in accomplishing their stated objectives, and 3) determine ifand to what extent they contribute to the recovery of the endangered fishes. Monitoring also will be necessary to determine how well the endangered fishes are doing, and assess their prospects for recovery. The Recovery Program will Management Plan for Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin XIX