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<br />N <br />0) <br />~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~ <br />'- <br /> <br />3,400 acre-feet a year for agriculture of <br />which all is available in Phase I. <br /> <br />2. Delivery Point <br /> <br />Pending completion of Southern ute Reservoir <br />in Phase II, the tribes M&I water will be <br />delivered at Ridges Basin, Durango Pumping <br />Plant inlet or the point on La Plata River <br />where water is diverted for project purposes. <br />Agricultural water will be delivered as <br />contemplated in the Definite Plan Report. <br /> <br />3 . options <br /> <br />If Ridges Basin and facilities to deliver <br />tribes water are not completed by January 1, <br />2000, then by January 1, 2005 tribe has same <br />options as Ute Mountain Utes. <br /> <br />V. Animas-La Plata Biological Opinion <br /> <br />The initial biological opinion of the united states Fish <br />and Wildlife Service (FWS) which was issued in December <br />of 1979, found that the project was not likely to <br />jeopardize the continued existence of the Colorado <br />Squawfish and resulting in a Nonjeopardy Opinion. Fish <br />surveys conducted in 1987, 1988, and 1989 found that <br />twenty-seven Colorado Squawfish including seventeen young <br />of the year fish were located in the San Juan River. <br />After re-initiation of section 7 Consultation a second <br />draft Biological Opinion was issued in May of 1990 and <br />concluded that the impacts of the project were likely to <br />jeopardize the continued existence of the Colorado <br />Squawfish, and further, that no reasonable and prudent <br />alternatives could be identified as the result of the <br />Consultation. <br /> <br />A revised draft Biological Opinion for the Animas-La <br />Plata project was issued in April, 1991 after more than <br />a year of negotiations among the Bureau, FWS, Colorado, <br />New Mexico, the Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute <br />tribes, and the Colorado and New Mexico water users. The <br />reasonable and prudent alternative included in the <br />revised draft opinion has the following key elements: <br /> <br />1. Allows construction of Part I of Phase I of the <br />Animas-La Plata Project with an initial depletion <br />of 57,100 acre-feet, <br /> <br />2 . Seven years of research to determine endangered <br />fish habitat needs, <br /> <br />8 <br />