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nrQ5'iO"" uU..L ....) . adult brood stock to prevent extinction of these rare fish and maintain their genetic resources; develop growout ponds; conduct research to improve survival of endangered fish raised in captivity and stocked in the wild; and support appropriate stocking and reintroduction efforts, Nonnative species and sportfishing entailing managing detrimental nonnative fish species in habitat considered "critical" to endangered fish. This also involves educating and distributing information to anglers to reduce accidental capture of endangered fish. Research, monitoring, and data management provides information about what these fish need to survive, grow, and reproduce in the wild. Efforts include compiling data on the number, sizes, and locations of endangered fish; monitoring endangered fish population trends; and making river flow recommendations. . Need: The Recovery Program has identified a need to construct and operate a fish screen in the Red1ands Power Canal to prevent entrainment of adult and sub adult Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker. Purpose: The purpose of the proposed action is to implement Recovery Program elements to minimize incidental take of endangered fishes, enhance critical endangered fish habitat and assist in recovery of the Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker. . Actions taken should be cost effective, timely, and complement related actions to help restore native fish populations and protect existing and planned rights and uses affected by the project. Related Recovery Program actions include providing fish passage at diversion dams and structures, stocking endangered fish, controlling non-native fish species, acquiring and restoring floodplain habitat, and protecting instream flows. . Potentially affected uses of Gunnison River water include: providing irrigation water to residents of the Redlands Community, hydroelectric power generation at the Redlands Power Plant, and the Red1ands fish passageway. . The choice among alternatives should ensure costs to the Recovery Program are as low as possible while considering benefits to the endangered fishes. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Endangered FisheS-Many studies have been completed on Colorado River endangered fishes (Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bony tail and humpback chub), their habitats, their behavior, and factors that led to the decline and listing of these species under the Endangered Species Act (summarized in the Final EA for Fish Passage at the GVIC Diversion Dam, Appendix A, (Reclamation, 1997). These studies have increased the understanding of 2