35TH ANNUAL RESEARCHERS MEETING OF THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER ENDANGERED FISH RECOVERY PROGRAM AND SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN RECOVERY IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM JANUARY 14–15, 2012 CLARION INN HORIZON DRIVE GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO Registration will occur outside the Clarion Inn Conference Room starting at 9:00 am on Tuesday 14 January 2013. A registration fee of $25 (cash preferred or check please, no credit cards accepted) will offset the costs of the meeting room and refreshments. If you are giving an oral paper please be sure your presentation is copied from CD/DVD or portable USB drive to the laptop running the projector before your session begins. Push pins will be available to hang posters before Tuesday’s evening social. REGULAR SESSIONS Tuesday, January 14, 2012 8:30 Registration: Fee is $25.00 (Cash or check) to offset costs of meeting room and refreshments. 9:30 WELCOME/ INTRODUCTION TO THE JOINT ANNUAL RESEARCHERS MEETING. Tom Chart, Dave Campbell and Angela Kantola (Information and Education Update: Leith Edgar and Melanie Fischer) Session 1: Hydrology (Moderator: Kevin McAbee) 9:40 HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY FOR 2013. Jana Mohrman Session 2: Nonnative Fish Control (Moderator: Kevin McAbee) 10:00 POPULATION TRENDS OF SMALLMOUTH BASS IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN WITH AN EVALUATION OF REMOVAL EFFECTS. André R. Breton, Dana L. Winkelman, John A. Hawkins, and Kevin R. Bestgen 10:20 SMALLMOUTH BASS OTOLITH MICROSTRUCTURE ANALYSES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GREEN RIVER BASIN FISH AND FLOW MANAGEMENT. Kevin R. Bestgen and Angela A. Hill 10:40 Break (20 minutes) Session3: Nonnative Fish Control (Continued) (Moderator: Kevin McAbee) 11:00 SMALLMOUTH BASS REMOVAL IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN: SUMMARY OF 2013 DATA AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE NONNATIVE FISH WORKSHOP. Tildon Jones, Kyle Battige, Jenn Logan, Lori Martin, John Hawkins, Cameron Walford, Matt Breen, Katie Creighton, Julie Howard, Ben Kiefer, Joe Skorupski, Travis Francis, and Aaron Webber. 2 11:30 POPULATION DYNAMICS MODELING OF INTRODUCED SMALLMOUTH BASS IN THE 1 2 UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN. André R. Breton , Dana L. Winkelman , Kevin R. Bestgen3, and John A. Hawkins3 12:00 Lunch Session 4: Nonnative Fish Control – Northern Pike Walleye (Moderator: Jerry Wilhite) 1:00 POPULATION ABUNDANCE AND DYNAMICS OF INTRODUCED NORTHERN PIKE, YAMPA RIVER, COLORADO, 2004–2010. Koreen A. Zelasko, Kevin R. Bestgen, John A. Hawkins and Gary C. White 1:20 SUMMARY OF NORTHERN PIKE REMOVALS IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN. Kyle Battige 1:40 WALLEYE EXPANSION IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN: PREDATOR REPLACEMENT 3.0. Paul Badame, Tildon Jones, Travis Francis, Joe Skorupski, Matt Breen, Katherine Creighton, Julie Howard 2:00 WRAP-UP. Kevin McAbee, Nonnative Fish Coordinator 2:15 Break (15 minutes) Session 5: Nonnative Fish in Grand Canyon and other Techniques (Moderator: Scott Durst) 2:30 TURBIDITY EFFECTS ON SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF RAINBOW TROUT ABUNDANCE AND GROWTH, GRAND CANYON, AZ. Scott P. VanderKooi, Michael D. Yard, Josh Korman, Theodore Kennedy and Charles B. Yackulic 2:50 NON-NATIVE FISH CONTROL IN COLORADO RIVER TRIBUTARIES IN GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK. Brian Healy, Clay Nelson, Emily Omana Smith, and Melissa Trammell 3:10 IMPULSIVE SOUND AS AN INVASIVE AQUATIC SPECIES SUPPRESSION STRATEGY. Jackson Gross 3:30 Break (15 minutes) Session 6: Other Activities (Moderator: Tom Czapla) 3:45 ENTRAINMENT OF NATIVE FISH IN THE MAYBELL DITCH, 2011-2012. D.W. Speas, J.A. Hawkins, P.D. Mackinnon, K.R. Bestgen and C. W. Walford 3 4:05 CONTAMINANTS INVESTIGATIONS IN ENDANGERED COLORADO R. FISH CRITICAL HABITAT: DETERMINATION OF SELENIUM IN FISH FROM DESIGNATED CRITICAL HABITAT IN THE GUNNISON RIVER, AND EPA STUDY OF PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS AND PESTICIDES IN GRAND VALLEY WASHES. Barb Osmundson 4:35 RECOVERY PLANS FOR THE FOUR COLORADO RIVER ENDANGERED FISHES RECOVERY PLANNING UPDATE. Richard A. Valdez and Tom Czapla 5:05 PRESENTATION OF THE RESEARCHER OF THE YEAR AWARD 6:00 SOCIAL – A RATHER SUBSTANTIAL PRIZE WILL BE DRAWN FOR A FIELD OFFICE Wednesday, January 15, 2012 Session 7: Native Fish (Moderator: Tom Chart) 9:00 RESPONSE OF THE NATIVE FISH COMMUNITIES OF THE YAMPA AND GREEN RIVERS TO NONNATIVE FISHES AND FLOWS. Kevin R. Bestgen, C. Walford, A. Hill, T. Wilcox, and J. Hawkins 9:30 USE OF COAL CREEK, WHITE RIVER DRAINAGE, CO, BY FLANNELMOUTH AND 1 2 3 BLUEHEAD SUCKER. Greg Fraser , Kevin R. Bestgen and Dana L. Winkelman 9:50 NATIVE FISH INVENTORY AND COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT ON THE DOLORES RIVER, UT; AND FUTURE MOVEMENT STUDY USING PASSIVE INSTREAM ANTENNA. Daniel Keller and David Speas 10:10 Break (20 minutes) Session 8: Endangered Fish (Moderator: Tom Czapla) 10:30 STEWART LAKE FLOODPLAIN: ROAD TO RAZORBACK SUCKER RECOVERY? Joseph A. Skorupski Jr., Ian Harding and Matthew J. Breen 10:50 HUMPBACK CHUB IN CATARACT CANYON. Julie Howard 11:10 ENDANGERED HUMPBACK CHUB TRANSLOCATIONS TO COLORADO RIVER 1 TRIBUTARIES IN GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK. Emily C. Omana-Smith , Brian D. Healy, Clay Nelson, and Melissa Trammell 11:30 WAHWEAP: THE UTAH WARM WATER STATE FISH HATCHERY. Zane C. Olsen 11:40 WRAP-UP: Tom Czapla 4 ABSTRACTS Abstract Format (abstracts appear as they are listed in the agenda): TITLE Authors: If only one author contact information follows directly. If multiple authors from the same agency, contact information follows directly. If multiple authors from different agencies, contact information is subscripted. Presenter’s names are italicized. Abstract (Presentations are 20 minutes, typically split into 15 minutes for the presentation and 5 minutes for follow-up questions; but the author can use the total 20 minutes for the presentation and take questions from individuals during breaks, social, etc.) Session 1: Hydrology HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY FOR 2013. Jana Mohrman, Hydrologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service A review of the 2013 hydrology will be presented. A summary of how “dry year” fish flow targets were met will be presented. Despite low flow conditions there were small volumes of water carried over to 2014 in the Yampa and the 15-mile reach with the concern that dry years often come back to back. Some new issues will be showcased in the 15-mile reach. Session 2: Nonnative Fish Control – Smallmouth Bass POPULATION TRENDS OF SMALLMOUTH BASS IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN WITH AN EVALUATION OF REMOVAL EFFECTS André R. Breton1, Dana L. Winkelman2, John A. Hawkins3, and Kevin R. Bestgen3 1Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State University, 1484 Campus Mail, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1484, [email protected] 2U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State, 1484 Campus Mail, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1484 3Colorado State University, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Larval Fish Laboratory, 1474 Campus Mail, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1474 3Colorado State University, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Larval Fish Laboratory, 1474 Campus Mail, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1474 Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu were rare in the upper Colorado River basin until the early 1990’s when their abundance dramatically increased in the Yampa River sub-basin. Smallmouth bass established a self-sustaining population and eventually colonized the downstream Green River sub-basin. The rapid increase of smallmouth bass in the upper Colorado River basin overlapped with significant reductions in native fish populations in some locations. Thus, an integrated and widespread bass removal program was instituted to reduce 5 those negative effects. Our analyses indicated that smallmouth bass densities were substantially reduced in most years by electrofishing removal efforts. Environmental effects were also responsible for declines in smallmouth bass densities in some reaches but only in some years. Abundant year classes of young smallmouth bass produced in low flow and warm years such as 2006 and 2007 have potential to overwhelm removal efforts. Despite the potential for post- removal bass population recovery in some reaches from recruitment and immigration, recent electrofishing removal effort (ca. 2008–2011) has resulted in declining smallmouth bass population trends. We recommend that the Recovery Program (1) maintain efforts to reduce smallmouth bass in areas perceived to be production areas; (2) consider other tools such as flow and temperature management to reduce smallmouth bass reproduction; (3) prevent escapement of resident smallmouth bass and other fishes from reservoirs and other sources; (4) prevent colonization of smallmouth bass from the Duchesne River into the Green River; (5) continue use of tagged fish to obtain reliable abundance estimates to understand population dynamics; (6) evaluate switching to removal of smallmouth bass on all passes (no tagging) in reaches only when pre-determined criteria are met; (7) re-assess available capture-recapture data from reaches not integrated in analyses discussed here; and (8), integrate re-evaluations of smallmouth bass removal effectiveness into a carefully designed adaptive management strategy to assess implications for recovery of the four endangered fish species. SMALLMOUTH BASS OTOLITH MICROSTRUCTURE ANALYSES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GREEN RIVER BASIN FISH AND FLOW MANAGEMENT Kevin R. Bestgen and Angela A. Hill, Larval Fish Laboratory, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523, (970) 491- 1848, [email protected] Otolith microstructure analysis, particularly daily