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Brown Trout in the Lees Ferry Reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of Causal Hypotheses and Potential Interventions

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Brown Trout in the Lees Ferry Reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of Causal Hypotheses and Potential Interventions Prepared in cooperation with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the Western Area Power Administration Brown Trout in the Lees Ferry Reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of Causal Hypotheses and Potential Interventions Open-File Report 2018–1069 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Cover image: Brown trout, rainbow trout, and humpback chub. Photographs by Craig Ellsworth, Morgan Ford, Amy S. Martin, and Melissa Trammell. Prepared in cooperation with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and the Western Area Power Administration Brown Trout in the Lees Ferry Reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of Causal Hypotheses and Potential Interventions By Michael C. Runge, Charles B. Yackulic, Lucas S. Bair, Theodore A. Kennedy, Richard A. Valdez, Craig Ellsworth, Jeffrey L. Kershner, R. Scott Rogers, Melissa A. Trammell, and Kirk L. Young Open-File Report 2018–1069 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior RYAN K. ZINKE, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey William H. Werkheiser, Deputy Director exercising the authority of the Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2018 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit https://www.usgs.gov/ or call 1–888–ASK–USGS (1–888–275–8747). For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit https://store.usgs.gov/. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The Tribal Perspectives in this report are published as they were submitted. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Runge, M.C., Yackulic, C.B., Bair, L.S., Kennedy, T.A., Valdez, R.A., Ellsworth, C., Kershner J.L., Rogers, R.S., Trammell, M.A., and Young, K.L., 2018, Brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of causal hypotheses and potential interventions: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1069, 83 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181069. ISSN 2331-1258 (online) Acknowledgments The work documented in this report arose from a motion at the February 2017 meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, which asked for a workshop to be held to investigate the causes and implications of brown trout expansion in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River. A workshop was held in September 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. The steering committee for the workshop also provided guidance to establish the scope of work for this report. The steering committee consisted of: Rob Billerbeck of the National Park Service; Chris Cantrell of the Arizona Game and Fish Department; Shane Capron and Craig Ellsworth of the Western Area Power Administration; Katrina Grantz and Marianne Crawford of the Bureau of Reclamation; Jessica Gwinn of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Scott VanderKooi and Michael Runge of the U.S. Geological Survey; and David Braun of Sound Science, LLC. An initial whitepaper outlining the brown trout issue was written in September 2017 and served as inspiration and raw material for this report. In addition to the authors of this report and the members of the steering committee, the contributing authors of the whitepaper included Robert Schelly of the National Park Service; Dave Rogowski of the Arizona Game and Fish Department; David Ward, Mike Yard, Kimberly Dibble, and Jim Peterson of the U.S. Geological Survey; Barry Nehring of the Colorado Division of Wildlife; and Josh Korman of Ecometric Research, Inc. The research in this report was further supported by a number of people who made valuable contributions. For their work consulting tribal members and writing the tribal perspective included in this report, we are grateful to Kurt Dongoske (Pueblo of Zuni) and Mike Yeatts (Hopi Tribe). Jan Boyer of the Arizona Game and Fish Department went to great lengths to answer our data queries. Tom Gushue of the U.S. Geological Survey generously produced the map for this report. We are grateful to David Braun, Keith Gido, Chris Kitcheyan, Frank Rahel, and Scott VanderKooi, who carefully reviewed this report and offered suggestions that have improved it substantially. Finally, we are especially grateful to Meredith Hartwell of the U.S. Geological Survey, who found and documented all the references in this report, and Scott Darling of the U.S. Geological Survey, who edited the entire report with an extraordinarily keen eye. iii Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... iv Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Status of Brown Trout at Lees Ferry ........................................................................................................... 6 Purposes ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Scientific Background ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Historical Stocking of Trout in the Grand Canyon Region ........................................................................... 7 History of Known Brown Trout Distribution, Abundances, and Movement .................................................. 8 Threat to Humpback Chub and Rainbow Trout ......................................................................................... 11 Brown Trout Management Activities ......................................................................................................... 12 Current Brown Trout Research and Monitoring......................................................................................... 14 Hypotheses for the Increase of Brown Trout in the Lees Ferry Reach ......................................................... 15 Motivating Observations ........................................................................................................................... 15 Reconstruction of the Lees Ferry Brown Trout Population ........................................................................ 17 Hypotheses for a Change in Immigration Rate ......................................................................................... 20 Hypotheses for a Change in Reproductive Rate ....................................................................................... 23 Combined Hypotheses for the Change in Brown Trout Dynamics ............................................................ 27 Management Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 30 Brown Trout .............................................................................................................................................. 31 Humpback Chub ....................................................................................................................................... 31 Condition of the Rainbow Trout Fishery .................................................................................................... 31 Sediment Resources ................................................................................................................................. 32 Hydropower Generation ............................................................................................................................ 32 Costs of Implementation ........................................................................................................................... 33 Tribal Concerns with the Taking of Life ..................................................................................................... 33 Other Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 33 Potential Management Strategies ................................................................................................................ 33 Alternative 1: Status Quo .......................................................................................................................... 34 Alternative 2: Incentivized Take of Brown Trout ........................................................................................ 34 Alternative 3: Suspension of Fall High-flow Experiments .......................................................................... 34 Alternative 4: Enhanced Spring High-flow Experiments ............................................................................ 35 Alternative 5: Brown Trout Management Flows ........................................................................................ 35 Alternative 6: Brown Trout Mechanical Removal .....................................................................................
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