Opportunities for establishing native fish conservation areas in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Authors: Daniel C. Dauwalter, John Sanderson, Jack E. Williams, James R. Sedell

Year: 2009 (xli)

Abstract

Fishes native to the Upper Colorado River Basin are in decline. Although the Colorado River cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus has been the focus of many conservation efforts, recent efforts have also been directed towards three declining native warmwater species - the flannelmouth sucker Catostomus latipinnis, the bluehead sucker Catostomus discobolus, and the roundtail chub Gila robusta. Native fish conservation areas are watersheds that are managed primarily for native fish and aquatic ecosystem conservation, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has adopted this concept as a new 10-year Keystone Initiative for the Upper Colorado River Basin. A network of conservation watersheds will be identified where future conservation actions will benefit both Colorado River cutthroat trout and the three declining native warmwater stream fishes. This network will then serve as a strategic funding framework over the duration of the Initiative. We illustrate how the network of watersheds will be identified using the Upper Green River as an example, and how Muddy Creek in south-central Wyoming currently represents a model system for the Initiative. By focusing at the scale of watersheds, conservation and restoration activities in network of watersheds will facilitate interconnected populations of native cold- and warmwater fishes and increase their likelihood of persistence across the Upper Colorado River Basin.