•UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Division of Fishery Services Phoenix, Arizona Progress Report • FISHERY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM Black and Salt Rivers Ft. Apache and San Carlos Apache Indian ,Reservations Arizona January 21, 1966 February 3, 1966 Initial Report Black and Salt Rivers Ft. Apache and San Carlos Apache Indian Reservations Arizona Introduction During the past several years, the Bureau of Sport'Fisheries'and Wildlife, in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has-intensified its fishery managementi assistance to the Ft. Apache and San Carlos Indian Reservations. During this period many reports summarizing fishery management activities have been submitted. None, however, has dealt with the important Black and Salt Rivers or their fishery potential. This report summarizes the- results of preliminary fishery investigations on the Salt and Black Rivers, including fishery potentials, and Is directed to the Tribal organization and•agencies of the San Carlos and Ft.-Apache Indian Reservations. The Black and Salt Rivers of Arizona flow through some of the most- spectacular canyons of the Southwest. The Salt River Canyon crossing at Highway 60 is often referred to as.the second-Grand Canyon of Arizona, with vividly colored canyon walls rising vertically more than 3,000. feet. The Black River follows a major - - - rift through basalt rock that is often narrow and exceeds 26000 feet in depth in many places. Canyons, alternately widening and boxing, extending from alpine to upper sonorian life zones, are characteristic of the study area Stands of virgin . spruce and ponderosa pine lend beauty to the. canyon rims,andt ln the higher elevations, extend into the.. canyon bottom and intersperse.the side walls. Below Highway 60 crossing_giant.saguaro cactus, yucca., juniperand ocotillo lend further interest to varicolored sedimentary geologic formations of a magnitude and scope seldom available to the view of man. The -Salt and Black Rivers wind through these immense fissures in the earth like minute' threads when viewed from the canyon rims. The aesthetics are best described as a combination of,natural,features having great. impact upon'onels senses of space, color, and distance. Existing River and Fishery Conditions The Black and Salt Rivers are in reality one stream. The Salt River is formed by the confluence-of the Black.and White Rivers. The Black and Salt Rivers, which flow in a westerly direction, form the common boundary between the Ft. Apache and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservations (Figure 1). The Ft. Apache Reservation is located north of therivers and the San Carlos Apache Reservation lies on the south side. The Black River originates at an elevation of 10,500 feet in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona, approximately 12 miles east of the.Ft. Apache Reservation boundary. Seventy-six miles of the Black River and 32 miles of the:Salt River form the common boundary between the Ft. Apache and San Carlos Indian Reservations. On this distance (108 miles), the Black and Salt River stream bed degrades from 6,800 to 3,000 feet in elevation. An additional 22 miles of the Salt River forms the southern boundary of Ft. Apache, east of the San Carlos Reservation's western boundary (Figure 1). River flows fluctuate greatly throughout the year. Lowest stream flows usually occur in the summer months of June and July. Highest stream flows normally occur during the spring months, March through April, as the result of melting snow. United States Geological Survey records, from data collected at the gauging station located one mile below the Black River pumping station, show that the average discharge rate of the Black River was 153 cfs over an 11-year period ending September 1964. During the period of record from October 1963 to September 1965, the low daily mean flow for a month ranged from 36.6 cfs in January to 407 cfs during April. In this same period, the minimum daily flow was 21 cfs and the maximum daily flow was 960 cfs. The major tributaries to the Black and Salt Rivers from the north, which drain the Ft. Apache Reservation, are Reservation Creek, Pacheta Creek, Big Bonito Creek, White River, Cibeque Creek and Canyon Creek. The major tributaries from the south, which drain the San Carlos Apache Reservation, are Freezeout Creek, East Sawmill Creek, Deer Creek, West Sawmill Creek, and Cienega Creek. Clear water flows are characteristic in the Black and Salt Rivers during low flow periods. At high flow periods, the Black River in the vicinity of the pumping stion becomes moderately turbid and the Salt River becomes very turbid. Water is diverted in the Black River at the pumping station and pumped into the headwaters of Willow Creek (Gila River Drainage) for mining, metallurgical treat- ment of ores, and domestic supply in the vicinity of Morenci, Arizona. All re- maining water flows to Roosevelt Reservoir, located on the Salt River below the Reservations, where it is impounded and used for irrigation (Salt River Project) in the vicinity of Phoenix, Arizona. Geological Survey records, over a four- year period ending December 31, 1963, show that the amount of water diverted from the Black River at the pumping station ranged from 1,600 acre-feet per year in 1963 to 5,000 acre-feet per year as occurred in 1960 and 1962. The amount of water diverted at the pumping station may be increased in future years. Excessive pumping under low water conditions could endanger dowstream fish popu- lations. The Black and Salt Rivers on the Reservations lie in a canyon ranging in depth from 300 to 2,000 feet. The Rivers generally meander considerably within the confines of the canyon walls. Large flats of land lie between the bends.of. the Rivers. The bottom lands along the upper 50 miles of the Black River on the Reservations are covered with conifers, predominately ponderosa pine. Lower • on the Black River and on the Salt River, the ponderosa pine gives way.to scrub oak, juniper, and other scrubs. Towards the lower end of the Salt River on the Ft. Apache Reservation, desert-type vegetation prevails. The terrain through which the Black and Salt Rivers flow is extremely rough and is cut by deep side canyons entering the main Black and Salt River. canyons. There are very few access points to the rivers on the Reservations. Fishery information was collected at known access points to the river bottoms...during the survey that began in June 1963. The points of access from the Ft. Apache Reservation to the Black River are as follows: Ten of Diamonds Ranch located near the mouth of Paddy Creek; Old Military Crossing one and one-half miles below the mouth of Big Bonito Creek; Nash Creek Road two miles" south of Georges Basin Tank; and Black River Crossing bridge 14 miles southwest of the town of Ft. Apache. Access to the Salt River from the Ft. Apache Reservation was.at the following locations: Highway 60 bridge and approximately 12 miles upstream from the Highway 60 bridge over an old mine road crossing the head of Flying-V Canyon. Easy access to the Salt River from the Ft. Apache Reservation is also available along a good gravel road which parallels the Salt River in the canyon bottom below the Highway 60 bridge for several miles. Access to the Black River is more difficult from the San Carlos- Reservation. The following access points were used to obtain survey information: foot trail to Black River bottom, ten miles above the mouth of Freezeout Creek;,at the Black River pumping station, using trolley; the old military road which crosses to Ft. Apache; and the Black River bridge crossing. Access points into the Salt River Canyon from the San Carlos Reservation are as follows: road_from.Hilltop to the mouth of Little Trough Creek and the Highway 60 bridge. Pick-up trucks, 4-wheel drive vehicles and hiking are the only modes of transportation practical for getting to all the above-mentioned access points to the Black River_except at the Black River bridge crossing. Similar modes of transportation are.needed to get into the Salt River Canyon except in the vicinity of the Highway 60 bridge. Water temperature data were collected on the Black River during the survey. The principal collection station for temperature data on the Black River was at the pumping station. Water temperature data were recorded from gauges in the pump house daily, with few exceptions, from May 21 to September 17, 1965. Selected minimum and maximum daily temperatures are depicted_in the graph shown as Figure 2. Daily water temperatures were found to fluctuate.as much as 150 F. Maximum water temperatures occurred about 5:00 p.m. and minimum temperatures occurred about 8:00 a.m, on the Black River. - Highest water tem- peratures were recorded during the first week of July. The daily maximum water temperature declined after this date. Water temperatures were found to.gradually increase downstream and to gradually decrease upstream from the pumping station. The fish population in the Black and Salt Rivers was sampled at every known access point by seining, gill netting t electrofishing, hook-and-lineJishing or with rotenone. Fish collected included the following species: rainbow • trout (Salmo gairdneri), bonytail (Gila robusta), flannelmouth sucker (Catos- tomus latipinnis), Gila sucker (Pantosteus clarki), green sunfish (Le omis cyanellus), black bullhead (Ictalurus melas), and channel catfish ( c a urtis unctatus). A good to excellent population of channel catfish was rour--= most portions of the Black and Salt Rivers below the Black River crossing. The upper 16 miles of the Black River on the Reservations contained a fair to 3 good population of rainbow trout.