Upper Colorado Recovery Program

Recovering Fish in the Upper Colorado River

In an effort to help recover endangered fish in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Northern Water is a participant in the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. The effort began in 1988 when a coalition of local, state and federal agencies, water and power interests, and environmental groups began working to recover populations of four threatened and endangered fish species in the Upper Colorado River Basin and provide Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliance for water projects throughout the basin. Specifically, partners of the program are recovering four species of endangered fish: the humpback chub, bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker.   

Program partners, including Northern Water, participate in management actions leading toward delisting of the four endangered fish by:

• Enhancing peak flow during runoff by releasing water from storage and bypassing inflows without adversely affecting project yields;
• Supplementing river flows in late summer;
• Stocking of native fish and managing non-native species;
• Constructing fish passage and fish screens at diversion dams and other physical barriers to allow for fish migration and limit entrapment;
• Raising endangered fish in hatcheries for stocking;
• Coordinating and conducting additional research on endangered fish; and
• Improving aquatic habitat.

As of Dec. 31, 2019, the Recovery Program has provided ESA compliance for 2,181 water projects depleting approximately 2.86 million acre-feet/year in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. This includes 1,250 projects in Colorado depleting 2.1 million acre-feet per year. ESA compliance has been streamlined for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, federal agencies and water users and to date no lawsuits have been filed on ESA compliance provided by the Recovery Program.