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<br />12 <br /> <br />summer through fall, preferred natural backwater areas of zero velocity and <br />less than 1.5-foot depth over a silt substrate. Juvenile Colorado squawfish <br />habitat preferences are similar to that of young-of-year fish, but they appear <br />to be mobile and more tolerant of lotic conditions away from the sheltered <br />backwater environment. <br /> <br />Miller et al. (1982) and Archer et al. (1986) demonstrated that Colorado <br />squawfish often migrate considerable distances to spawn in the Green and Yampa <br />Rivers, and similar movement has been noted in the main stem San Juan River. <br />A fish captured and tagged in the San Juan Arm of Lake Powell in April 1987 <br />was later recaptured in the San Juan River approximately 80 miles upstream in <br />September 1987 (Platania 1990). <br /> <br />Only two Colorado squawfish confirmed spawning sites, as defined in the <br />Colorado Squawfish Recovery Plan, have been located in the Upper Basin: river <br />mile 16.5 of the Yampa River and river mile 156.6 of the Green River. These <br />areas have the common characteristics of coarse cobble or boulder substrates <br />forming rapids or riffles associated with deeper pools or eddies. It is <br />believed that a stable, clean substrate is necessary for spawning and <br />incubation. Substrates are swept clean of finer sediments by high flows <br />scouring the bed prior to the spawning period. <br /> <br />O'Brien (1984) studied the hydraulic and sediment transport dynamics of the <br />cobble bar within the Yampa River spawning site and duplicated some of its <br />characteristics in a laboratory flume study. Based on field observations, he <br />reported: <br /> <br />"On the rising limb of the hydrograph, sands are deposited in the <br />cobble interstices. These sands are interchanged between the bed <br />and the suspended zone for discharges less than bankfull. Depending <br />on the supply-capacity relationship, either deposition or scour <br />could be occurring. When the cobbles move, the sand, of course, is <br />washed from the interstices and may be completely removed from <br />around the cobbles. Rearrangement of the cobbles will result in <br />more stability of the armor layer. On the falling limb, the armor <br />layer becomes a trap for sands until finally, the sand reservoir is <br />again filled. Without cobble movement, sand will be scoured only to <br />a depth of one-half to one median cobble diameter below the cobble <br />bed surface." <br /> <br />In the flume experiments, the sand level was observed approximately 0.50 to 1 <br />cobble diameter below the surface of the cobble bed, which compared to field <br />observations of sand depth at approximately 0.50 to 1 median cobble diameter. <br />O'Brien reported a cobble size range of 50-100 mm with a median size of 75 mm <br />at the spawning site. Milhous (1982) proposes discharges of approximately <br />one-half that required to initiate cobble movement will be capable of <br />extracting sands and fines from the cobble substrate. Thus, after the supply <br />of sand diminishes, flows of sufficient magnitude and duration are required to <br />scour the cobble bed in preparation for spawning and incubation. <br />