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. . consultation with the Service under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act in 1991. The catalyst for operational changes and section 7 consultation was the proposed construction of the Animas-La Plata Project (ALP). A draft biological opinion on ALP (May 7, 1990) concluded that construction of the project would jeopardize the continued existence of the Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker. During this time, new hydrological investigations suggested that additional flexibility which existed in the operation of Navajo Reservoir could help offset the negative impacts of the operation of the ALP. A reduction in late fall and winter releases would allow for water availability to increase spring peaks and return the San Juan River to a more natural hydro graph that would mimic pre-dam historic flow conditions. This flexibility in flow patterns would assist in the development of a reasonable and prudent alternative to the jeopardy biological opinion and allow initial ALP construction efforts to move forward. The reasonable and prudent alternative (RP A) that was developed required Navajo Dam operations to mimic a natural hydrograph for the life of the dam. The RPA also included Reclamation's commitment to fund approximately seven years of research to determine the flow requirements for the Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker. The Program completed the seven-year study in 1997. As a result of the seven-year study, the Program's Biology Committee in 1999 developed quantitative flow recommendations for the San Juan River below the Animas River confluence that mimic a natural hydro graph. The Biology Committee's May 1999 report on the flow recommendations also suggested that, based on the San Juan River Basin hydrology model, the flow recommendations could be met by operating Navajo Dam and Reservoir: (1) with a spring peak release of 5,000 cfs, which is the capacity of both the dam outlet works and the downstream channel, for one to three weeks each spring depending upon the availability of water from reservoir storage and inflows; (2) with a minimum release rate of250 cfs during the summer, fall and winter months, with higher releases when necessary to bypass inflows for downstream senior water rights or to maintain base flows in the critical habitat reaches of the San Juan River below Farmington at or above the targeted level of 500 cfs to 1,000 cfs; and (3) spike releases of excess storage water in Navajo Reservoir during the summer, fall and winter months resulting from storm runoff. Since 1999, Navajo Reservoir has largely been operated to meet the flow recommendations, with reasonable deviations during extreme drought. A Biological Opinion on operating Navajo Reservoir to meet the flow recommendations or a reasonable alternative was completed September 30, 2005. The related Final Environmental Impact Statement on Navajo Reservoir Operations was completed in April 2006, and the Record of Decision was issued in July 2006. . Fish Passages and Fish Screens There are seven major diversion structures on the main stem San Juan River in New Mexico, ranging from soil and boulder dikes to concrete and metal weirs over which the entire river flows. The most upstream of these structures are dikes and levees at the heads of the Citizens Ditch and the Hammond Canal, which are upstream of the confluence with the Animas River and are not deemed to pose a problem to fish passage. The other diversion structures are located downstream of Farmington, and are the Farmers Mutual Ditch, the Fruitland canal, the San Juan Generating Station diversion, the Four Corners Power Plant pump station, and the Hogback canal. Water for the Jewett Valley Ditch is diverted at the San Juan Generating Station weir, and water for the Cudei project has been supplied from the Hogback canal since 2002 when the Program funded removal of the Cudei diversion dam and installation of a siphon to connect the 15