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<br />. . <br /> <br />U.S. Fish and wildlife Service <br />January 30, 1996 <br />Page 6 <br /> <br />reservoir to provide 300,000 acre-feet 33% of the time under full <br />development of each State's compact allotment. We submit that, <br />pursuant to the goals of the recovery program, the research must be <br />directed towards determining how Navaj 0 Reservoir storage and <br />releases can best be used to provide water for endangered fish <br />under the full development scenario. <br /> <br />Page 43, under the heading Conclusion, second paragraph. Item <br />5 includes the installation .and maintenance of a stream flow gage <br />on the Animas River close to the confluence with the San Juan <br />Ri ver. There is an existing stream gage located on the Animas <br />River about 1.5 miles upstream from its confluence with the San <br />Juan River. It is suggested that this gage should be adequate even <br />if supplemental measurements of the Farmer's Mutual Ditch are <br />necessary to provide the data sought. There does not appear to be <br />a readily available site for another location without major <br />construction. <br /> <br />The following comments are made on Appendix A attached to the <br />draft Biological Opinion. <br /> <br />Pages 2 and 3. The second paragraph of item 4 states that <br />imports to the San Juan River Basin from the Dolores River were <br />decreased by about 3,000 acre-feet and that the decrease in return <br />flow to the San Juan River from that decreased import amounts to <br />about 450 acre-feet. However, because of some uncertainty <br />regarding an instream flow issue, it was assumed that the reduction <br />of 3,000 acre-feet of import would result in a decrease of 3,000 <br />acre-feet to the return flow to the San Juan River via McElmo <br />Creek. Implicit in this assumption is that all of the 3,000 acre- <br />feet of the original import returned to the San Juan River, which <br />is not a rational assumption. <br /> <br />Page 5, item C, third paragraph. The paragraph states that an <br />annual release of 300,000 acre-feet from Navajo Reservoir during <br />the spring most closely resembles the natural spring flow pattern. <br />It should be noted that in most low-flow years, the natural spring <br />inflow hydrograph to Navajo Dam is less than 300,000 acre-feet. <br />For example, the total May-June runoff recorded at the gage on the <br />San Juan River near Blanco in 1951 was just under 200,000 acre-feet <br />and in 1954 just over 200,000 acre-feet. In 1995, at the San Juan <br />