BOARD00031 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/20/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

?-

.

.

.

ii

updated regularly on the Project Internet site at http://www.wapa.gov/transmissionleptp.htm

BOR Finds No Significant Impact in Plan to Acquire Habitat for the Endangered Southwestern
Willow Flycatcher: On August 18 Reclamation issued a final Environmental Assessment and Finding of
No Significant Impact on a proposal to acquire land to benefit the federally endangered Southwestern
Willow Flycatcher. The proposed acquisition is comprised of an estimated 73 acres ofland along the San
Pedro River, approximately nine miles south of San Manuel in Pinal County. Arizona.

The proposed land acquisition is located just south of and adjacent to the 140-acre Spirit Hollow Preserve
owned and managed by the Salt River Project. Under the proposed action, Reclamation would enter into a
management agreement under which SRP would be responsible for managing the additional 73 acres as
part of the Spirit Hollow Preserve.

The action is being carried out as partial fulfillment of the requirements included in a 1996 Biological
Opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Reclamation's modifications to Theodore
Roosevelt Dam for water conservation and flood control. Modifications to the dam increased the water
conservation capacity of the reservoir, which adversely affected occupied willow flycatcher habitat.

The final EA and FONSI can be obtained by calling the Environmental Resource Management Division
at [phone], bye-mailing [e-mail] , or by downloading it from the Phoenix Area Office
website at htto://www.usbr.gov/Ic/phoenix/

Court Overturns Ruling on Endangered Species; Decision Strikes Blow to Environmental Group:
A Federal appeals court has ruled on July 24 that the Bureau of Land Management does not have to get
input on impacts of water diversions and ditches built before 1976. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned a lower court decision that would have required the BLM to "consult" on water transmissions
over rights of way on BLM-administered land-input that would provide ways to mitigate actions and
minimize effects to protect endangered species. Consultation is one requirement of a formal process that
occurs when an endangered species issue arises. The question was whether the BLM has discretionary
authority over ditches that are pre-1976, and the court ruled it does not.

In the case of Western Watersheds Project v. Matejko, the court held that six rights of way used to move
water across federal lands in the Upper Salmon River Basin are not subject to consultation because the
1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which gave the BLM its authority over such actions, was
not in place when the ditches and diversions were built.

Western Watersheds Project, based in Hailey, argued that under the federal Endangered Species Act the
BLM was required to "consult" on the use of the rights of way.

The decision reversed a 2004 federal district court ruling that held consultation was required. The appeals
court, however, ruled it wasn't required because the BLM had taken no action to fund, permit or use the
rights of way and had no general ongoing regulatory responsibility with respect to their use, the news
release says.

Groups Urge Support of Streamgaging Programs: On August 17,23 organizations sent a letter to
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Rob Portman, Director of the Office of Management and Budget,
urging the Administration to substantially increase its financial commitment to the U.S. Geological
Survey's (USGS) National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) and Cooperative Water Program
(CWP).

The letter states that "the USGS streamgaging programs have a proven record of providing reliable
information concerning America's water resources that is essential for decision makers in both the public

7