U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arizona Game and Fish Department Bill Williams River Watershed Chapter 11 BILL WILLIAMS RIVER WATERSHED Chapter 11 Bill Williams River Watershed ............................................................................... 11-1 Santa Maria Sub-Watershed .................................................................................................. 11-7 Santa Maria Complex ........................................................................................................ 11-9 Bass Tank ....................................................................................................................... 11-9 Blue Tank ..................................................................................................................... 11-15 Granite Mountain #1 Tank ........................................................................................... 11-20 Granite Mountain #2 Tank ........................................................................................... 11-25 Santa Maria Complex Analysis ....................................................................................... 11-29 Big Sandy River Sub-Watershed ......................................................................................... 11-40 Burro Creek Complex ...................................................................................................... 11-40 Carter Tank .................................................................................................................. 11-44 Antelope Tank .............................................................................................................. 11-49 Harmon Tank #2 .......................................................................................................... 11-52 Bar 37 Tank.................................................................................................................. 11-54 Little Antelope Tank .................................................................................................... 11-58 McElhaney Tank .......................................................................................................... 11-61 Harman Tank ............................................................................................................... 11-66 Stubb’s Tank ................................................................................................................ 11-69 Swale Tank................................................................................................................... 11-74 Coors Lake ................................................................................................................... 11-78 Burro Creek Complex Analysis ....................................................................................... 11-86 Bill Williams River Watershed Analysis ................................................................................. 11-93 Biological Assessment of the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s January 2011 Statewide and Urban Fisheries Stocking Program 11-1 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arizona Game and Fish Department Bill Williams River Watershed List of Figures Figure 1. Bill Williams Watershed. ........................................................................................... 11-6 Figure 2. Land ownership in the Bill Williams Watershed. ...................................................... 11-7 Figure 3. Overview of the Santa Maria River Sub-Watershed, showing points of available fish collection data from the Kansas State Aquatic GAP database. .............................. 11-9 Figure 4.Bass Tank on Loco Creek............................................................................................ 11-9 Figure 5. Bass Tank imagery on Loco Creek .......................................................................... 11-10 Figure 6. Bass Tank, July 2002. ............................................................................................... 11-11 Figure 7. Bass Tank photograph. ............................................................................................. 11-11 Figure 8. Loco Creek below Blue Tank. .................................................................................. 11-13 Figure 9. Loco Creek below Boundary Spring. ....................................................................... 11-14 Figure 10. Blue Tank ............................................................................................................... 11-16 Figure 11. Berm dam at Blue Tank. Water spills to the left of the Cottonwood trees............. 11-17 Figure 12. Blue Tank in 2007. ................................................................................................. 11-17 Figure 13. Overview map of Granite Mountain 1.................................................................... 11-21 Figure 14. Granite Mountain 1 with tributaries. ...................................................................... 11-22 Figure 15. Annual peak flows at Santa Maria River near Bagdad........................................... 11-24 Figure 16. Granite Mountain 2 along Little Shipp Wash......................................................... 11-26 Figure 17. Granite Mountain 2 imagery .................................................................................. 11-27 Figure 18. Sampling sites on Sycamore Creek May 6-8, 2009. Mouth of Loco Creek is in upper right hand portion of map. ................................................................................. 11-33 Figure 19. Sample site on Loco Creek where no fish were collected in May 7, 2009. ........... 11-34 Figure 20. Overview map of the Bill Williams watershed. ..................................................... 11-41 Figure 21. Overview map of the Burro Creek watershed. ....................................................... 11-43 Figure 22. Overview of stock tanks in Pine Creek watershed. ................................................ 11-45 Figure 23. Carter Tank, July 2002. .......................................................................................... 11-46 Figure 24. Antelope Tank, July 2002....................................................................................... 11-49 Figure 25. Harmon Tank #2, July 2002. .................................................................................. 11-52 Figure 26. Bar 37 Tank, July 2002. ......................................................................................... 11-55 Figure 27. Little Antelope Tank, August 2007. ....................................................................... 11-58 Figure 28. McElhaney Tank, August 2007. ............................................................................. 11-62 Figure 29. Yolo Ranch along Boulder Creek........................................................................... 11-65 Figure 30. Harman Tank, August 2007. .................................................................................. 11-67 Figure 31. Stubb’s Tank, June 2006. ....................................................................................... 11-70 Figure 32. Stubb’s Tank photograph. ..................................................................................... 11-71 Figure 33. Breech at Stubb’s Dam, October 2007. .................................................................. 11-72 Figure 34. Stubb’s Dam breech looking downstream, October 2007. ..................................... 11-72 Figure 35. Swale Tank, October 2004. .................................................................................... 11-74 Figure 36. Swale and Slaughter Tanks .................................................................................... 11-77 Figure 37. Coors Lake, May 2007. .......................................................................................... 11-79 Figure 38. Coors Lake and ephemeral tributaries to Boulder Creek ....................................... 11-83 Figure 39. Cyprus Bagdad Mining Company operations near Coors Lake ............................. 11-85 Figure 40. Vertical Drop on Pine Creek UTM 12S 310728E 3858237N, June 2008. ............. 11-88 Biological Assessment of the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s January 2011 Statewide and Urban Fisheries Stocking Program 11-2 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arizona Game and Fish Department Bill Williams River Watershed Figure 41. Surface elevation of Alamo Lake over time, 1968 to present (Brown and Jacobson 2007a). .......................................................................................................... 11-94 Figure 42. USGS gauge data for peak discharge below Alamo Dam before and after dam construction completed in July 1968. .......................................................................... 11-95 List of Tables Table 1. Stocking history at Bass Tank. .................................................................................. 11-12 Table 2. Surveys at Bass Tank by year, method, species, number caught, and lengths (in mm). ............................................................................................................................. 11-15 Table 3. Stocking History for Blue Tank. ................................................................................ 11-18 Table 4. Surveys at Blue Tank by year, method, species, number caught, and lengths (in mm). ............................................................................................................................. 11-19 Table