Lower Colorado River Basin Area Report

Authors: Douglas K. Duncan

Year: 2013 (xlv)

Abstract

Most conservation activities in the Lower Colorado River Basin are done under the aegis of the following programs in Arizona and New Mexico: the Gila River Basin Native Fishes Conservation Program (GRBNFCP, also known as the CAP [Central Arizona Project] Program, the Conservation and Mitigation Program (CAMP) of Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD), the Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Plan (MSCP), and Endangered Species Act Section 6 actions in Arizona and New Mexico. The GRBNFCP funds conservation, management, and research in the basin in both Arizona and New Mexico and focuses on the Gila chub, Gila intermedia, Gila topminnow, Poeciliopsis occidentalis, spikedace, Meda fulgida, razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus, and loach minnow, Tiaroga cobitis. Other species benefiting from GRBNFCP actions the last year include roundtail chub Gila robusta, headwater chub, Gila nigra, and desert pupfish, Cyprinodon macularius. Actions in Arizona, largely by AGFD, this year have focused on reestablishing Gila topminnow and desert pupfish populations, and continuing work on Muleshoe Cooperative Management Area, Fossil Creek, and the Blue River. Actions in New Mexico by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Gila National Forest, New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, and New Mexico Bureau of Land Management have focused on the Forks of the Gila, and tributaries of the Gila River for reestablishment. The CAMP focal species are Chiricahua leopard frog, Rana chiricahuensis, headwater chub, narrow-headed gartersnake, Thamnophis rufipunctatus, New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, Zapus hudsonius luteus, northern leopard frog, L. pipiens, northern Mexican gartersnake, T. eques magalops, and roundtail chub. In the Colorado River below Lake Mead, actions continue for razorback sucker and bonytail chub, Gila elegans. More than 21,000 razorback sucker have been released in Lakes Mohave and Havasu, with more than 2,000 bonytail stocked in Lake Havasu. Other conservation actions continue under Section 6, the Arizona Heritage Program, the Arizona topminnow and pupfish Safe Harbor Agreement, or will be reported separately. Lastly, this report is dedicated to the memory of Drew Pearson, a valued member of AGFD’s GRBNFCP crew. Drew was fishing at Big Lake when he was struck and killed by lightning.