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. n~2~93 Table 4, Phase I Study - Modeled Average Juniper Canyon Flows (cfs) , Present 2040 2040 With Difference from Condition No Action Enlaraements No Action October 329 278 272 -6 November 315 279 275 -4 December 262 226 233 +7 Januarv 239 206 212 +6 February 282 246 250 +4 March 608 572 567 -5 April 2,505 2,460 2,304 -156 May 5,543 5,484 5,400 -84 June 4,805 4,732 4,736 +4 Julv 1,118 1,032 1,106 +74 Auaust 289 221 296 +75 September 191 135 175 +40 6.1 15-Mile Reach Programmatic Approach In 1996, the Recovery Program identified a need to develop a strategy to provide and protect flows in the "15-mile reach" of the Colorado River. This reach extends from the Grand Valley Irrigation Company diversion near Palisade downstream to the confluence of the Gunnison River at Grand Junction. This strategy was to include a discussion of the synergy between those Recovery Program activities related to flows and those unrelated to flows in the Colorado River. At the same time there were discussions on the effectiveness of the Section 7 Agreement in the 15-mile reach, A workgroup was formed to further clarify issues and recommend a strategy for their resolution. By the end of 1996, the workgroup recommended that issues could be best resolved through a biological opinion, However, many issues remained unresolved regarding flow needs, options for providing and legally protecting water, the importance of actions unrelated to flows in recovering the fish, and a framework for conducting future Section 7 consultations. To resolve these issues, the State of Colorado convened a larger workgroup of interested parties in August 1997, The workgroup included water users, environmental groups, state and federal agencies, The resulting programmatic biological opinion (PBO) represents the consideration of flow and non-flow recovery actions in the Colorado River sub-basin, Insofar as both existing and future federal and non-federal water development projects which deplete water from the Colorado River are likely to have a federal nexus, these actions were considered under this biological opinion, The federal nexus will likely occur in the form of facility repairs or construction requiring Department of the Army or Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permits, rights-of-way permits, federal funding, or other federal involvement The biological opinion considers not only existing depletions, but up to 120,000 af per year of new depletions from both existing and potential new facilities above the 15-mile reach, This includes facilities that have current biological opinions, but have not yet depleted the full amount covered by those opinions, as well as facilities without a current federal nexus. Draft 07/28/99 15 Ayres Associates