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<br />includes, in addition to the Fish and Wildlife Service, representatives from the Bureau of <br />Reclamation, from the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, from the water user <br />community, and from the environmental community. <br />The Upper Colorado River is important habitat for the Colorado squawfish. At <br />present, the upper limit of the habitat is the Grand Valley - apparently because of <br />obstructions in passage presented by the diversion dam for the Grand Valley Irrigation <br />Company canal, an old diversion dam for the Price-Stubb Ditch, and the Roller Dam for the <br />Grand Valley Project Relatively large numbers of squawfish have been found in the IS-Mile <br />Reach, and the area has been identified as a "suspected Colorado squawfish spawning area." <br />Consequently, theiS-Mile Reach has been a "focal point" of recovery efforts.52 <br />For reasons that are not entirely understood, successful spawning by the Colorado <br />squawfish is closely correlated with significant spring runoff periods. Possible explanations <br />include the flooding of adjacent areas into which the squawfish move for feeding and <br />warming prior to spawning, and the cleansing of gravel substrates utilized for egg incubation. <br />Irrigation diversions for the Grand Valley markedly reduce flows in the IS-Mile Reach, <br />potentially limiting access to adjacent backwater areas and limiting the flushing effect of the <br />remaining flows. These effects are most pronounced during the months of July to September <br />when diversions are the highest (and as flows naturally decline). <br />Efforts are being made to improve streamf10ws through the IS-Mile Reach. The Fish <br />and Wildlife Service recommends flows in this stretch of between 700 and 1,200 cubic feet <br />per second (cfs) during July, August, and September; with a 600-cfs floor in especially dry <br />years. An analysis of historical flows in the reach suggests that an additional 47,000 acre-feet <br />of water is needed to support this micimum flow objective. 53 The first increment of water to <br />meet this need came from Ruedi Reservoir, a feature of the Fryingpan-ArkRn""~ Project <br />constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation on the Fryingpan River. This reservoir provides <br />"compensatory storage" to offset the depletive effects of water removed the West Slope of <br /> <br />'" Id. at 17. <br /> <br />" U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Study of Alternative Water Supplies for Endangered Fishes in the "IS-Mile <br />Reach" of the Colorado River, January 1992 at 4. <br /> <br />23 <br />