One of four imperiled fish on the Colorado River will stay on the endangered species list at least another five years to ensure its numbers are rebounding. Colorado pikeminnows, once known as squawfish, are now most common in the Green and Yampa rivers, though the 15-mile stretch of the Colorado River through the Grand Valley that is considered critical to survival of the fish.

The Interior Department announced a plan on Wednesday to allow periodic increases in the flow of Colorado River water through the Grand Canyon, alleviating the environmental disruption caused by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona in the 1960s.

With 2012 shaping up to be at least a near-record drought year in the high country, some of the Colorado River’s endangered native fish could be facing a battle for survival, especially in key tributaries like the Yampa, in northwestern Colorado.

Trout fishing suffered on the Fryingpan River above Basalt for six weeks last summer because water from Ruedi Reservoir was needed to assist endangered fish, federal authorities said Monday. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it released water purchased from Ruedi by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when the agency demanded, or “called,” it in August.

Six reservoirs along the upper Colorado River are releasing water through the Memorial Day weekend to help improve mating habitat for endangered fish. The releases from Granby, Ruedi, Windy Gap, Williams Wolford Mountain, Dillon and Green Mountain reservoirs are designed to replicate spring peak flows on the Colorado before the dams were built.