Extreme drought, low snowpack and early snowmelt have all led to unusually early voluntary river closures and an increase in emergency fish salvages. In the Yampa River, fish are acclimated to a cold-water environment. Essentially, low river flow acts as a catalyst for all other detrimental conditions to fish. CPW enacts an emergency fish salvage if “substantial fish numbers” are in “imminent danger.” The last time an emergency fish salvage was declared in Routt County was in 2023 at Sherriff Reservoir, when low water levels due to dam upgrades threatened the fish.