| OCR Text |
Show The Bonneville Unit Plan includes a 10- year program designed to ( 1) determine the best possible use for fish conservation of Unit water that would be made available for fishery releases to Rock Creek and the Strawberry River, ( 2) investigate possibilities for stream improvement, and ( 3) investigate replacement measures for lost stream fishing. That portion of the study for Rock Creek on Ute Tribal lands would be carried out by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife in cooperation with the Ute Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Studies on other Unit streams would be conducted by the Utah State Division of Wildlife Resources in cooperation with the Forest Service where applicable. The cost of the 10- year study has been estimated at $ 267,000 and would be included under provisions of Section 8 of the Act of April 11, 1956 ( 70 Stat. 105) which authorized the Colorado River Storage Project. To date about $ 27,000 has been spent by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife in an evaluation of the expected impacts of potential reduced flows in Rock Creek on the fishery resource and to access equitable mitigation measures. The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife plans to study conditions on the Strawberry River during 1973. The remainder of the study has not yet been formulated. Table C- 3 compares historical winter flows of the intersected Uinta Basin Streams with recommended fishery bypasses and planned Unit releases. When analyzing this table, careful attention should be given to the footnotes of explanation. Table C- 3 shows that the recommendations made by the fishery resource agencies closely resemble the historical minimum winter flows and are less than the historical average flows. Considering these comparisons in addition to the soundness of the Forest Service method used to derive the recommendations, the Bureau of Reclamation recognizes that degradation to the fishery habitat in those reaches of stream would result if the recommended minimum flows are not available in that reach. The Bureau of Reclamation does not believe that all of the fishery resource below each diversion and dam would be destroyed for the entire length of the reach of stream to be subjected to reduced flows. Bureau of Reclamation hydrological studies^' 1/ Studies consisted of evaluation of U. S0G. S0 gaging readings, limited field measurements, and area- altitude runoff calculations. 289 |
