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. . options to reduce the number of Steering Committee meetings, Reclamation has announced that Ms, Patricia Beneke, Assistance Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science, plans to attend the January 22, 1998, Steering Committee meeting. As you recall, the case of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity v. United States Bureau of Reclamation and Secretary Bruce Babbitt was appealed by the plaintiffs to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The seven Basin states have filed an appeal to the Court requesting the case be dismissed on the grounds that the states are indispensable parties under the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution. No hearing date has been set by the Court. Copies of pertinent documents regarding the case are being reproduced and forwarded to the Agency Managers and their legal counsel as quickly as they are received. I have included in the Board folder a copy of a memorandum from Reclamation outlining a Draft Process to Develop Provision 13(b)-Discretion Reasonable and Prudent Alternative Biological and Conference Opinion Lower Colorado River Operation and Maintenance (October 1997). The staffplans to provide comments to Reclamation by the December 3rd deadline. Comments from the Board members to be incorporated into our response need to be received soon. Also included in the Board folder are the first few pages of the Report of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, regarding S.1180, the Endangered Species recovery Act of 1997. You should read the Summary and Major Provisions Section on page 3. The bill calls for: more emphasis on sound science; independent peer review; m~emphasis on recovery of each species and de-listing when the recovery goal has been attained; a larger role by the states, streamlining the consultation process; incentives for private landowners; and new authority for candidate conservation agreements. WESTERN WATER PLANNING Glen Canvon Environmental Studies The Technical Work Group of the Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Work Group (TWG) met on October 3rd & 4th, 1997, and again on November 4th & 5th, 1997. At the October meeting, most of the activity dealt with administrative procedures, with the remaining time spent with subcommittee assignments to review and provide comments on: the FY 1999 Budget for the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center; criteria for beach habitat building flows for March 1998; the 1998 report to Congress; the state of Natural and Cultural Resources report; and the FY 1999 Annual Monitoring and Research Plan, The November TWG meeting was largely devoted to progress reports from the subcommittees, A copy of the minutes from the October TWG meeting is included in the Board folder for your infonnation. The test flow that was discussed last month actually occurred from November 4th through the 7th at a sustained flow rate of 31 ,800 cfs. No infonnation is available at this time on the impacts 4