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<br />RESCUE: Squawfish need protection from predators, . '''~''
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<br />them to pursue their various inter.
<br />ests along the river.
<br />Tyqs' work has yet to shake the
<br />world of the squawtlsh, but the drat!
<br />of his report tor the Colorado RIver
<br />Water Conservation District struck
<br />the spark that prompted the district
<br />last month to urge the program to re-
<br />cO/1Slder how to go about saving the
<br />species.
<br />And it won some respect for the
<br />RIver District tor seeking new scien-
<br />tific information about the squawtlsh
<br />;md other end~er~ fish in the Col-
<br />orado RIver., .'
<br />"The water developers are going
<br />'.out oCtheir way to bring expertise in-
<br />to the debate," said Peter Evans. dep.
<br />uty dJrector of the Colorado Water
<br />Conservation Board ;md'a member of
<br />the recovelYprogrant's management
<br />committee. which lpoks 'after day.
<br />to-day aifail's. '1'he biologists are not
<br />do1rJglt" .
<br />Tyus' report is "an indlcallon that
<br />there Is still a basic colllllct between
<br />the water development commWllty
<br />Md the biologists," Evam said. "r
<br />don't think this reilly cl\snges
<br />things. The unresolved question Is
<br />what role lnstream flow will play in
<br />preserving . the Colorad.o RIver
<br />ecosystem. "
<br />'The water conservation board has
<br />applisd tor Instream flew rights
<br />through the.l5.mJ!e reach of the river
<br />as It runs through the Grand Valley
<br />to benefit endangered species, at the
<br />request of the Fish & Wildlife Service.
<br />That application Is on hold whUe pro.
<br />gram olIicials wrangle about what
<br />will someday reel the squawt1sh and
<br />olh!lP! back from near.extin,ction.
<br />,SCott 8a1comb, .c. a ",'G.lenwood
<br />SpPngs.attorney representljig water
<br />developers, said pressure :~\Ieh as
<br />that exerted by the Tyu~ report will:
<br />foree change. : . I, . "
<br />"The recovelY program is in a pe-
<br />riod of adjustment and refocusing to
<br />become a better recovery program,"
<br />Balcomb said. "My clients WMl the
<br />fish to be recovel'lld" and while the
<br />Fish & Wildlife Service remains the
<br />agency in charge. "It oUghl to IJBten
<br />to reason."
<br />Reasonable is e~actly what Fish &
<br />Wildlife Service olI1clals say they'vo
<br />been.
<br />IlWe've never been one.
<br />dlmenslonal on flows," said Frank
<br />l'foifer, who heads thc Grand Junc-
<br />tion od1ce of the FIsh & WlIdIlte Ser.
<br />vice. tlckinlr oft'items that the service
<br />
<br />has Investigated as potential ways of
<br />saving the endlUlgem species: stock.
<br />lni:, habitat restoration, flows,. con-
<br />trolling no~tives. and so on.
<br />Tyus' concarns that lmP<!l'ls now
<br />reign as supreme predators threaten.
<br />ing the native fish of the Colorado are
<br />nothirlg new 10 them or to 1Yus, ac-
<br />cording to their published data, Pfeif-
<br />er said.
<br />II an)'lhins', the federal agency has
<br />been remarkably compliant since the
<br />inception otthe recovery program in
<br />1988, he said.
<br />"We've allowed 220,000 acre feet of
<br />waler to go to development since
<br />1988," he said. ''The progress for the
<br />fish in that lime has been relatively
<br />sJim.1l
<br />, The agenCy estimates the squaw.
<br />flSh popUlation in the upper Colorado
<br />River at 600 to 6SO fish. There is a
<br />small population of humpback chubs
<br />in the Black Rocks and Westwater
<br />areas of the rival' and razorback
<br />suckers are virtually unknown now
<br />in the upper Colorado. 'L'he last bony.
<br />tall chub found in the upper Colorado
<br />River was caught in the Black Rocks
<br />area in 1984.
<br />Fish & Wildlife Service biologist
<br />Doug Osmundson points to the main-
<br />tenance of /lows through the Colo-
<br />rado as critical to the survival of the
<br />fish. Mimicking as much as possible
<br />the natural pattern of high, flushing
<br />!lows in the spring cleans the cobble
<br />in preparation for squawflsh to lay
<br />their eggs and ollen sweeps nonna.
<br />tMs downstream, at least
<br />temporarily.
<br />The asency needs to protect those
<br />1I0ws to preserve the species, Os-
<br />mundson said.
<br />"rc we thollght the fish could reo
<br />cover without inslream flows. we'd
<br />be supportive of it." he said.
<br />"If you were to ask. even if all the
<br />nonnatives were gone, would we still
<br />need high spring peak lIows. the an-
<br />swer is Yes," Pfeifer said.
<br />S~ving the squawflSh and its en'
<br />dangered brethren will require mote
<br />than the $SO million to $55 million
<br />spenl so far, said Evans. The recovery
<br />program is gearing up to spend about
<br />$100 mUlion on flsh passages, fish
<br />screens, water 1I0w Improvement
<br />and other methods in thel1pper basin
<br />of the Colorado River and on the San
<br />Jua.n River in Uhoh and New Mexico.
<br />Recovery program ollicials are
<br />working on leg1~lation that would
<br />have the federlll government and
<br />
<br />states split the COIlt ot those improve. .
<br />ments 50-50, he saieL '
<br />Biologists haven't decided how,
<br />many flsh. would constlMe a reinvig-
<br />orated species, but the recovery pro-
<br />gram is studying goals that officials
<br />will point the way 10 recov9lY,l'feJfer ,
<br />said. .
<br />"We're dedding the direction the
<br />program ought to be goirlg so every.
<br />body can see the endpoint" .
<br />Resuscitating the squawfish mliPlt'
<br />require nothing more right now than
<br />setting a few people loose to seine
<br />backwaters for suckers Md shiners
<br />and encouraging cOlllll1eIl:laI fISher.
<br />men to consider the Colorado' River
<br />as a Clltflsh farming ground, Tyuil'
<br />said. ',.-1';"
<br />. ..,..
<br />Setting loose commercial IIsher-.
<br />men on the now ubiquitous chani1el
<br />catfish and reducing the numbers of.
<br />small nonnative flSh that teed on lar-
<br />va and YOWlg squawfish aren't exact. '
<br />Iy hlgh.tech. solutions, but sometliing
<br />new has to be tried, said Tyus. .
<br />"We need to get some creativity' .
<br />and we need to make it more lIlll," .:
<br />said Tyus. "On. of the fll'St things we:'
<br />need to do is get a rag.tag group out.
<br />and hammer the backwater areas,"
<br />removing nO!lllll.tives. "I truly belisve .
<br />thaI it we can reduce some of these '.
<br />, areas with 90-95 percent nonnatives .
<br />to 10 or 20 percent, it might give the .
<br />SQuawfLllh a chance." .
<br />Efforts already are Wlder way to .
<br />remove some invaders. Pfeifer said.
<br />Biologists from the Colorado DM:
<br />sian of Wildlife and Colorado Slate:
<br />University removed 6,000 bass anc\.
<br />sunfish from six backwater aroas in
<br />recent week>, he said, .
<br />/IJ1g!ers need to reconsider their ,
<br />view of squaWlish as trash fISh. Tyus
<br />said, and consider them in a new.
<br />light, as do wildliCe oll'iclllls, as a po-
<br />tentially valuable economic resource.
<br />"Ifs an idea. What if we could r~
<br />cover them well enough to where you
<br />could catch a 20- or 30-pound squaw. .
<br />fish?" And that from 50 or 70 miles of '
<br />riverbank now used almost only to .
<br />convey wetor out of the state, 'fyus
<br />said.
<br />Tyus isn't roone in imagining an .
<br />economic benefit from squawflsh.
<br />Consider what might come tram the
<br />aquawflSh equ ivalent of gold.medal
<br />trout water through tourism-hungry
<br />western Colorado. said Evans.
<br />So far though, Tyua said. "The
<br />states haven't been very r"captive to
<br />the notion. n
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