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<br />F. Alternative F: Legislation <br /> <br />Several different legislative routes are considered in the document, including exemption from <br />the ESA for the Lower Colorado River (considered highly unlikely), and implementing regional <br />conservation planning, such as has been done on the Columbia River through the Northwest <br />Power Act and in the Florida Everglades through the Everglades Forever Act. <br /> <br />G. Alternative G: Modified Habitat Conservation Plan <br /> <br />The Modified HCP is a hybrid that combines an HCP, RIP, Programmatic Section 7 agreement, <br />legislation, and Section 6 funding into a comprehensive management program, This strategy <br />takes advantage of the benefits offered by each of these approaches, An HCP would serve as <br />the core of the program, providing a comprehensive, coordinated conservation strategy for <br />critical habitat and threatened, endangered, and candidate species in the Study Area (as well as <br />a mechanism for incidental take authorization). A multi-species RIP would constitute the <br />mitigation component of the HCP that is usually satisfied by habitat preserves in terrestrially <br />oriented HCPs, The RIP would be supported in part by Section 6 funding, Specific legislation <br />would provide authorization and possibly funding. <br /> <br />H. Eliminated Alternatives <br /> <br />Two additional alternatives were considered and eliminated from further consideration: Section <br />4(d) Authorization and Section 6 Authorization, The rationale for their elimination is as follows: <br /> <br />1. Section 4(d) Authorization <br /> <br />Section 4(d) of the ESA allows the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (Secretary) to <br />issue special regulations to facilitate protection and recovery of a species listed as "threatened." <br />This was recently done after a Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) program <br />was developed for the coastal sage scrub community in Southern California, habitat of the <br />threatened California gnatcatcher. A similar conservuion planning process under' Section 4(d) <br />could be developed for the Lower Colorado River corridor; however, a threatened species would <br />be necessary, and no suitable species currently exists, Two proposed species, the southwestern <br />willow flycatcher and the flannelmouth sucker, have been suggested for this role, However, the <br />flycatcher is proposed for listing as "endangered," not "threatened," and available data support <br />this listing status. The listing process for the flannelmouth sucker has just begun, and whether <br /> <br />FINAL REPORT <br /> <br />December 20, 1994 <br />Page Lt <br />