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State/Region Page 18 - Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo. , Sunday. October 23. 1983 Fish making waves for water projects Oy DUANE THOMPSON SpecIal to ItIft Rocky MountaIn News (;U:NWOOD SPHI:XGS - The world's largest minnow i~ c<lusing a whale of ,] problem for some major Colorado w;!l('r projl'cts. Unlike the Un)' sn.:lil darter, which stopped construction IIr tll(' T('nncssec Valley Authority's Tcleco Dam in the 1~10s, ColorJl(lo's endangered squa.....fish c.;m wl'igh up to tiO pounds. But it and Iwo other ('nd..mgered nalive species - the humpback chuh and honytail chub - nre m;lking costly W;JVl'S similar to those kidcd up by their Tennessee hn'thfl'n Colorado's endangered fish have already caused t1l'\,{'lop('rs millions of dollars and }'cars of delay. One .1I.'l- }{':Ir Il'g.ll b;Jtlle cnded in federal court this )'e-ar. Now, !>.Hmc 30 waler districts and tbe Colorado Water Congn'ss, a private group that advocates development of watl'r fl'soun'es, arc raising money to fight a plan by the US. Fi....h ,lnd Wildlife Service to help nurture the fish. "I think ollr go.ll is not to wipe out the fishes, but to be sure there is a reasonable program," said Greg Hobbs. an attorney for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and Cathedral Bluffs Oil Shale Company. lIobbs s..lid the propClS:lIS whicb call for guarant{'cd flow le\'els on ~tretchcs of the Colorado River and its major lributaries could dry up future projects on the Western Slope as wcll as transmountain diversions by the Denver Water Ocp<lrtmcnt. "It appC'ars most of the (Colorado) river district pro- jects would be in jeopardy," Hobbs said. "And it would ecrtainly affect all of the Denver Water Board projects." The redC'ral agency's r<'Commendations arc based on a five-year study of the endangered species in the upper Colorado Hiver basin. They call for Colorado and Ut.1h water users to pay $25 million for the comeMek of the squawfish, the world's largest member of the minnow family, and the two chubs. To save the fish. a minimum stream flow of 17,000 cubic feet per second is required on the Colorado River at Grand Junction during spring runoff, the agency said. Water districts say letting that much water flow down the river during the spring would severely hamper their ability to fill their reservoirs. "Il is not like we're holding a gun to their heads," said Terry lIkkman, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service. "\\'e're not trying to get into a fight." Hickman said lhat unlike the snail darter conlrovl:"rscy. the agency is approaching developers b{'fore making its final reeommcndations. In its study, the agency has been unable 10 find any pure slrains of the bony tail chub above Ut..h's Lake Powell, and only two areas where the humpback chub liVes. The squawfish still rangC's up to Dl'Beque on the Colora- do River and near Delta on the Gunnison Riv<,r. IIickman said the ste{'p dC'Cline of the- populations ap. parently occurred after dams at Uwh's Lake Powl'lI and Flaming Gorge were built. Water div<,rsion projecL" in the upper Colorado basin for irrigation and domestic use compounded the problem. Moreover, there is little public appreciation of squaw- fish or chubs. "In Colorado and Utah," said Hickman, "if it is not a trollt, it is pretty hard to get a lot of people excited." - Q Q rv c.:, ~ ",