Hot Springs Canyon Fish and Amphibian Monitoring 2014
Hot Springs Canyon was visited on October 16, 2014 to monitor fishes at the site of the fish barrier constructed by Reclamation in autumn-winter 2010. Fishes were sampled by backpack electroshocker from two, 100-m fixed sites and opportunistically by shocker and minnow traps above and below the barrier. Native longfin dace Agosia chrysogaster and lowland leopard frog Lithobates yavapaiensis were the only vertebrate aquatic species collected; a mummified non-native bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus also was found. Stream conditions near the barrier were similar to those observed during prior site visits in autumn 2011-2013 — the channel above the barrier was at the level of the structure, and a persistent, deep, plunge pool was immediately below the barrier. Wire gabion baskets were exposed at the downstream base of the barrier apron on both sides of the channel, but the barrier otherwise appeared intact and undamaged.