Endangered Fish Being Helped in Colorado Rivers

As part of the Coordinated Reservoirs Operations Program, endangered fish have been given a helping hand by an increase of water released from area reservoirs.

The reintroduction of endangered species of fish started on Monday, June 1 from a series of Upper Colorado River Basin reservoirs and will continue for about a week.

The program benefits the endangered fish of the Upper Colorado River Basin which is the only natural habitat for endangered fish such as the Humpback Chub, Razorback Sucker, Bonytail Chub and the Colorado Pikeminnow.

Many reservoirs volunteered for the program and will be releasing water to help restore the restocking of these species. To do that, more water is needed for those habitats so the following reservoirs will be increasing their volume of water into streams and rivers,

• Granby Reservoir - 1000 cfs to 1800 cfs over the next few days
• Green Mountain Reservoir - Already at their maximum of 1500 cfs
• Williams Fork Reservoir - 270 cfs to 500 cfs if conditions warrant
• Wolford Mountain Reservoir - 450 cfs to 600 cfs
• Ruedi Reservoir - 200 cfs to 650 cfs over the next few days

The Coordinated Reservoir Operations Program was established in 1995 as part of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. Its purpose is to enhance spring peak flows in a section of the Colorado River upstream of Grand Junction, Colo., determined critical to the survival of the four endangered fish species mentioned earlier. In years with sufficient snowpack, surplus inflows to the reservoirs can be passed on downstream to benefit these fish without impacting reservoir yield.

For more information please call Patience Hurley at the Bureau of Reclamation’s Eastern Colorado Area Office at (970) 962-4326.