This fish barrier removal project will occur on cherry creek in the LA plata river drainage

This $702,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service (CFDA 15.685 - National Fish Passage Program) will fund a project to replace a culvert that is obstructing fish passage on Cherry Creek in the La Plata River watershed in Colorado. The project will replace the existing culvert with a bottomless concrete box structure to restore fish passage and open up 15-20 miles of native fish habitat, including habitat for bluehead sucker, flannelmouth sucker, and roundtail chub populations. The project is expected to more than double the existing habitat for these three native fish species in the La Plata River watershed. The award is being provided to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, which will execute the fish barrier removal and culvert replacement work.

The project will replace the existing culvert which obstructs fish passage with a bottomless concrete box structure allowing for fish passage. The project will open up 15 to 20 miles of native fish habitat on the laplata river watershed.title: cherry creek fish passage improvementlocation: 37.13714, -108.21246 - cherry creek at LA plata county road 113 (LA plata county, colorado) purpose: cherry creek and an 8-mile portion of the LA plata river is a stronghold for the 3-species populations (bluehead sucker, flannelmouth sucker, and roundtail chub). The existing culvert where LA plata county RD 113 crosses cherry creek is a complete barrier to upstream fish movement, which deprives these populations of up to 20 miles of habitat. This project will reestablish connectivity throughout the creek by replacing the culvert with a design that facilitates passage by all species and age classes of fish.need: the LA plata river is unique among colorado river basin streams. There is a concrete diversion DAM in new mexico that protects the current population of native suckers from hybridizing non-native white sucker invading upstream from the SAN juan river. White sucker are not present above the diversion DAM and a genetically intact lineage of bluehead and flannelmouth sucker persists. Roundtail chub are also present in the LA plata river. The absence of hybridizing non-native white sucker is exceedingly rare across the colorado river basin. The project is expected to more than double existing 3-species habitat in the LA plata river watershed. The county road 113 on cherry creek culvert effectively disconnected a major tributary to the LA plata river from aquatic organism passage. The LA plata river from the confluence of cherry creek to the state line is generally considered a gaining reach, which allows the 3-species to persist. The confluence also includes the beginning of several miles of land ownership either held in trust by the southern UTE indian tribe or in fee title by the bureau of reclamation to support wildlife mitigation for the animas-LA plata project.