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l58G boatina. Based on BLM/USFS/Colorado State o Patks records, 1996 recreation use on the river was 590,192 uset days, an increase of 75% over 1990 use levels. This report focuses ptimarily on two of rhose activ- ities, fishing and boating use. Of the 590,092 river use rotal. 287,000 user days were reported for boating. and between 30,775 user days (Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation estimate) and 64,614 U5er days (Division ofWtldlife estimate) were reported for angling. Approximately 95% of the total boating use is comprised of rali:ing. including borh commercially organized rrips and privately-organized trips. Each raft carries an average of seven .persons. Approximately 5% of the rotal is comprised of kayaking use, with an average of one person per kayak. Outing rhe July 24 September 7 period there is an average of 2,934 boaters per dav. Of rhe river angling days, about 54% is fl\tlshing use, 41 %) is spinc:tScing use. and aboUt Sq/o is float. fishing U5e. During rhe July 24 to September 7 period, there is an average of approximately 244 fisherman per day using the Arkansas. This figure is derived by aver3ging statistics from the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation estimate. which estimates 158 fishermen per day, and the Division ofWtldlife. which estimates 331 fisherman per day. The recreJ.rion work group and its consultant, EDAW, [ne. analyzed user preferences for water levels using various uset surveys. Users in both boating and angling recreation activities were J.Sked ro judge rhe acceptability of various flow levels for rheir respective activities. The foUowing table shows the opcimum flow preferences by each type of recre:uional user. b. Turquoise Reservoir and Twin Lakes Twin Lakes Reservoir and Turquoise Lake Reservoir reponed 26,562 user days and 49,610 user days respeCtively, in 1996. Survey results indicate that users prefet higher lake levels. However, changes in reservoir levels do not appe:lI to have a pronounced effect on recre- ation activities and opporrunities. Regardless of me given reservoir level, a vase majority of the U5ers indicated that they would rerum to the site again under identical conditions. These results suggest that while reservoir Water levels do influ- ence the overall quality of the recreation experi- ence,. they do not playa significant role in deter- mining U5er behavior patterns for eirher boating or fishing :1criviries. c. Pueblo Reservoir Lake Pueblo State Park. with more than 1,543,000 visirors in 1996. was the fifth most visited reCte- arion area in Colorado. This figure is an increase of 41 % over 1990 U5e levels. Survey resultS indicate that users prefer higher lake levels. Recreation U5ers at Pueblo Reservoir indi- cated that they were more strongly affected bv Water levels than users 3.[ Turquoise or Twin Lakes. A majority of users expressed that rheir qualicy of recre3.rion e:(perience was neg3.rively affecred 3.( lower lake levels, especiallv scenic quality. However. changes is reservoir levels do not appear ro have a pronounced effect on uset behavior pat- terns. This mav be in part due ro rhe fact rhat Pueblo Reservoir users were. and typically are, e.'tposed w much grearer drawdowns than users at Turquoise Reservoir or Twin Lakes. Conditions at Pueblo Reservoir were reported ro improve consid- erably wirh regard ro safety, shoreline access, wd visual quality a elevations above 4850 teet. Recreation Activity Optimum Row Range Fly Fishing 400 - 500 cfs Spin Fishing 700 - 1200 ds Float Fishing 900 - 1200 ds Kayaki ng 1300 - 1500 cfs Rafting 1500 - 2000 ds Source: Page 4-1, EDAW Arkansas River Study. October 28. 1997 Median Optimum Flow 450 cfs 950 cfs 1050 cfs 1400 cfs 1750 cfs 34