scholarly journals Water power and flood control of Colorado River below Green River, Utah

1925 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Flood Control ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Green River ◽  
Water Power

Impacts on ecosystems, corrective restoration practices, and prospects for recovery: nine case studies in the continental United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 431 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Jones
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Mojave Desert ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Longleaf Pine ◽  
Elwha River

Ecological restoration in the United States is growing in terms of the number, size, and diversity of projects. Such efforts are intended to ameliorate past environmental damage and to restore functioning ecosystems that deliver desired levels of ecosystem services. In nine current restoration case studies from across the continental United States, this paper details (1) the impacts of the original disturbance and compounding secondary issues that compel restoration, (2) the corrective practices applied to advance restoration goals, and (3) the prospects for recovery of ecosystem services, including those involving associated animal populations. Ecosystem-altering impacts include flood control (Kissimmee River), flood control and navigation (Atchafalaya Basin), damming for irrigation-water storage (Colorado River) and hydroelectric power (Elwha River), logging and fire suppression (longleaf pine forest), plant invasions that decrease fire-return intervals (Great Basin shrublands, Mojave Desert), nutrient and sediment loading of watersheds (Chesapeake Bay, Mississippi River delta), and conversion of natural lands to agriculture (tallgrass prairie). Animal species targeted for recovery include the greater sage-grouse (Great Basin shrublands), the red-cockaded woodpecker (longleaf pine forest), the south-western willow flycatcher (Colorado River and its tributaries), the desert tortoise (Mojave Desert), eight salmonid fish (Elwha River), and the blue crab and eastern oyster (Chesapeake Bay).

Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Snake River Plain ◽  
Fish Populations ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Green River ◽  
Bear River ◽  
River Plain

<em>Abstract</em>.—In the past 17 million years (myr), the topography and drainage systems of the northwestern United States were drastically modified by the Yellowstone–Snake River Plain (YSRP) hotspot and associated east–west extension of the Basin and Range Province. These geologic changes influenced distribution and diversification of Cutthroat Trout <em>Oncorhynchus clarkii</em> and allowed connections between Snake River, Colorado River, and Great Basin fish populations beginning in the late Miocene. Studies of detrital zircon grains in Miocene to Holocene fluvial sands of the Snake River document the eastward migration of the regional drainage divide from central Idaho to northwestern Wyoming. This migration was concomitant with the southwest migration of the North American tectonic plate over the YSRP hotspot. In the late Miocene and Pliocene, since 10 million years before present (Ma), the Chalk Hills and Glenns Ferry lake systems formed on the western Snake River Plain and were hosts to diverse fish fauna. The modern Snake River formed after 3 Ma with the cutting of Hells Canyon and integration of the Snake and Columbia River drainage. In the Great Basin south of the Snake River watershed, Lake Lahontan has a history that goes back to the Miocene. Connections between the western Snake River Plain and the Great Basin were recurrent over the past 10 myr. In southeastern Idaho, the Bear River has had a complex drainage interaction with the Snake River and Bonneville watersheds. Lake Bonneville, in northern Utah, grew during Pleistocene glacial climate regimes. The modern Bear River connection to Lake Bonneville was initiated about 50,000 years before the present. The integration of the Green River with the Colorado River occurred in the late Miocene, developing after breaking of Eocene connections between the Green River and streams draining to the Atlantic Ocean. In sum, geological constraints are compatible with patterns of fish fossils and genetic linkages and identify mechanisms of colonization and isolation of fish populations that have resulted in regional diversification of Cutthroat Trout.

Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Green River ◽  
South Platte River ◽  
Continental Divide ◽  
San Juan River ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Platte River Basin

<em>Abstract</em>.—Despite major declines in distribution and abundance of Cutthroat Trout <em>Oncorhynchus clarkii </em>across their native range since European settlement, substantial morphological and genetic diversity remains. For example, recent molecular investigations revealed the presence of six discrete lineages of Cutthroat Trout native to the Southern Rocky Mountains rather than four as previously thought. These include the previously recognized Yellowfin Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. macdonaldi </em>(extinct) and Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. virginalis</em>, as well as the true native of the South Platte River basin, located east of the Continental Divide, which we continue to refer to as Greenback Cutthroat Trout. Within the range of Colorado River Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. pleuriticus</em>, which is located west of the Continental Divide, we highlight two divergent clades that historically occupied upstream, coldwater reaches of the Green River and Colorado River basins. Both are also found outside their historical ranges as well, due to extensive, mostly undocumented stocking in the early 20th century that served to conceal native diversity in the region. An additional clade closely aligned with those two Colorado River groups historically occupied the San Juan River basin. In this chapter, we discuss both molecular and morphomeristic evidence that indicates distinct lineages are aligned with major drainage basins, information that guides ongoing conservation actions.

Propagated Fish in Resource Management

2004 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Colorado River ◽  
Pimephales Promelas ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Lepomis Cyanellus ◽  
Green River ◽  
Endangered Fish ◽  
Black Bullhead ◽  
Nonnative Fish ◽  
Floodplain Reconnection ◽  
Ictalurus Melas

<em>Abstract.</em>—Floodplains are presumed to be important rearing habitat for the endangered razorback sucker <em>Xyrauchen texanus</em>. In an effort to recover this endemic Colorado River basin species, the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program developed a floodplain acquisition and enhancement program. A levee removal study was initiated in 1996 as one component of this floodplain restoration program. The goal of the Levee Removal Study was to evaluate the system responses to levee removal and make specific recommendations concerning the value of floodplain reconnection for endangered species (specifically razorback sucker) recovery. However, because there were very few razorback suckers in the Green River, answers to several important questions pertaining to razorback sucker utilization of the floodplain were not answered during this initial study. In an effort to answer some of these questions, age-1 and larval razorback suckers were stocked into depression floodplain wetland habitats along the Middle Green River in northeastern Utah. Age-1 razorback suckers were stocked during the spring of 1999 and 2000 into The Stirrup (river kilometer [Rkm] 444.0), Baeser Bend (Rkm 439.3), and Brennan (Rkm 432.0) wetland sites. Larval razorback suckers were stocked during the spring of 1999 into The Strirrup and into Baeser Bend during 2001. At the time of stocking, each floodplain site was occupied by numerous nonnative fish, including black bullhead catfish <em>Ictalurus melas</em>, fathead minnow <em>Pimephales promelas</em>, green sunfish <em>Lepomis cyanellus</em>, and common carp <em>Cyprinus carpio</em>. The goal of this study was to test if floodplain depressions will aid in the recovery of razorback suckers.

Reconciling Environmental and Flood Control Goals on an Arid-Zone River: Case Study of the Limitrophe Region of the Lower Colorado River in the United States and Mexico

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward P. Glenn ◽  
Kate Hucklebridge ◽  
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta ◽  
Pamela L. Nagler ◽  
Jennifer Pitt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lower Colorado River

Detecting Razorback Suckers Using Passive Integrated Transponder Tag Antennas in the Green River, Utah

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Aaron Webber ◽  
David Beers
Keyword(s):  
Flat Plate ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Colorado River Basin ◽  
Green River ◽  
Upper Colorado River Basin ◽  
Passive Integrated Transponders ◽  
Ptychocheilus Lucius ◽  
First Time ◽  
Flannelmouth Suckers

Abstract In order to increase detections of razorback suckers Xyrauchen texanus tagged with passive integrated transponders in the upper Colorado River basin, we deployed two passive instream flat-plate antennas (33 × 68 cm) at a razorback sucker spawning location in the Green River, Utah, during spring of 2012 and 2013. Over the course of 29 d in 2012 and 90 d in 2013, the antennas detected 569 razorback suckers, 19 Colorado pikeminnow Ptychocheilus lucius, 16 flannelmouth suckers Catostomus latipinnis, and 1 bluehead sucker Catostomus discobolus. Despite extensive sampling via boat electrofishing (rafts and hard-bottom boats) and netting (fyke, trammel, and gill) in wetlands that occurred from the 1990s to present in the upper Colorado River basin, a large number of tagged razorback suckers and Colorado pikeminnow, including a fish released in 1996, were detected for the first time by our antennas. Our data indicate that the detectability of razorback suckers, and precision and accuracy of survival and population estimates might be increased significantly with the addition of data gathered by passive instream flat-plate antennas in the Green River.

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