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JlfJ./ 0.---- I :/I'I/'1r ~, (':~ ..- \.. -.l :..; ~ In 1991, the San Juan River Seven-Year Research Program was initiated. Subsequently, in 1992, the Research Program was placed under the auspices of the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (SJRIP). The Research Program involved a variety of activities designed to characterize the current status of the resident fish community (particularly the federally protected Colorado pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus lucius, and razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus); to identify and quantify those factors (biotic and abiotic) that may be limiting protected fish species; and to identifY management and conservation activities that may eontribute to the recovery of protected species. Much of the research begun under the Seven-Year Research Program has been completed and a variety of management and conservation activities initiated. SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM MONITORING PROTOCOLS The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program Long Range Implementation Plan was designed to be an "adaptive management" effort (Section 4.7 of Long Range Plan) wherein research and particularly management/conservation activities are modified to reflect new information, To aid in the practiee of adaptive management, the Long Range Plan also direeted that "A long-term monitoring program be developed and implemented...". In Section 5.7,1, development and implementation of "a long-term standardized monitoring program to identifY changes in the endangered and other native fish species p~pulations, status, distributions, and habitat conditions" is identified as a "Milestone." Prior to and during the Seven-Year Research effort, several factors were identified that might limit or adversely affect the status of native fishes, in particular Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker, in the San Juan River. Briefly, these are; Low population size ofCillilrad. pikeminnow and razorback sucker, availability of suitable/needed habitats for completion .f life history stages, absence of a "natural" flow regime (high spring runoff, low summer and winter base flows, with storm generated flow spikes), . water quality (temperature and contaminants), nonnative fishes (predat.rs and cempetitors), and disease. The SJRIP has, as one of its two primary goals, the conservation of populations of Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker in the San Juan River basin. With these program goals in mind, the following Monitoring Plan goals have been developed: 1. Track the status and trends of the endangered and other fish populations in the San Juan River. 2. Track changes in abiotic parameters, including water quality, channel morphology, and habitat, important to the fish community. DraO. Long Term Monitoring Plan. SJRIP Biology Committee