Upper Colorado Basin Area Report

Authors: Paul Badame

Year: 2016 (xlviii)

Abstract

Activities continue in an effort to improve the status of many native fishes of the Upper Colorado River Basin. These activit ies are guided principally by four programs: the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program, the Range-wide Conservation Agreement for the Colorado River Cutthroat Trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus, and the Range-wide Conservation Agreement and Strategy for the ‘Three Species’ (roundtail chub, Gila robusta, bluehead sucker, Catostomus discobolus, and flannelmouth sucker, C. latipinnis). The two recovery programs, which collectively work towards the recovery of Colorado pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus lucius, razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus, bonytail, G. elegans, and humpback chub, G. cypha, use the protection of in-stream flow, habitat restoration, nonnative fish control, propagation, life history monitoring, and information and education to bring benefits to the four ‘big river fishes’. A species status assessment for razorback suckers is near completion and the process to update humpback chub recovery goals continues. Tasks to assist the species under Conservation Agreements included multiple remote sensing projects in tributaries throughout the basin; tamarisk control and watershed habitat restoration efforts are occurring on the San Rafael, Price, and White Rivers; distribution and density monitoring throughout their ranges; and renovation of trout streams and reintroduction of the Colorado River cutthroat trout continues in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.