U.S. Water News Online
DURANGO, Colo. -- Very few of the millions of anglers that
regularly recreate
across the West know what a squawfish looks like, nor do many of them
seem to
care. All they know is that study efforts by the Bureau of
Reclamation to
reduce stream flows during the winter to save more current for
endangered
species in the spring months threaten to wreak havoc with existing
trout
fisheries. For two weeks next month, the BuRec plans to reduce by
half the
normal current of the San Juan River that flows from Colorado into
New
Mexico.
Originally, the Bureau proposed to drop the flow of the San Juan
below Navajo
Dam in northwestern New Mexico to 250 cubic feet per second (cfs) for
four
months from November through next February. Reducing the flow of the
river
during the winter is part of an interagency experiment to determine
the
effects on endangered fish species, primarily squawfish that live
farther
downstream than the more popular trout. It is generally believed that
holding
more water behind upstream dams in the winter and releasing more in
the
spring and summer will benefit squawfish. However, anglers and others
are
concerned that reducing the flow during the winter months might dry
up some
of the riverbed and would create undue stress on trout.
After a series of public hearings where considerable opposition
was voiced
against the low-flow experiment, BuRec has amended its plan to go
with a
two-week, 250 cfs flow study, which has tentatively been scheduled
for the
first half of January. In recent years, winter flows on the tailwater
section
of the San Juan haven't dropped below 500 cfs.
The bureaucratic tinkering with the flow of the San Juan River
even has some
state officials saying some discouraging words. "A lot of this stuff
is
nonsense," a New Mexico Game and Fish Department biologist was quoted
as
saying. "It's just a ploy by the water developers to get what they
want."
Return to the U.S. Water News' Archives page
Or
Return to the U.S. Water News Homepage
uswatrnews@aol.com