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001513 e e PRINCIPLES FOR CONDUCTING ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT SECTION 7 CONSULTATIONS ON WATER DEVELOPMENT AND WATER MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES AFFECTING ENDANGERED FISH SPECIES IN THE SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN * 1.0 Endangered Species Act Compliance The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (Program) was established in 1991. The goals of the Program are: 1. To conserve populations of Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker in the Basin consistent with the recovery goals established under the Endangered Species Act. 2. To proceed with water development in the Basin in compliance with federal and state laws, interstate compacts, Supreme Court decrees, and federal trust responsibilities to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Tribe, and the Navajo Nation. The Program is intended to provide measures fur compliance with the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq) (ESA) for water development and water management activities in the Basin. These principles for conducting ESA section 7 consultations have been adopted by the Program's Coordination Committee. The principles have been reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and found to be consistent with the ESA and its implementing regulations (50 CFR Part 402). These principles will be used as a guide to define how Program actions will be used to provide ESA compliance for impacts to listed fish species in the Basin from water development and water management activities. 2.0 Indian Trust Responsibilities On June 5, 1997, the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior signed Secretarial Order 3206. That Secretarial Order directed both Departments to carry out their responsibilities under the ESA in a manner that harmonizes the federal trust responsibility to the tribes, tribal sovereignty, and statutory missions of the Departments, and that strives to ensure that Indian tribes do not bear a disproportionate burden for the conservation of listed species, so as to avoid or minimize the potential for conflict and confrontation. In recognition of the vital role of the sovereign tribes in both water development and water management activities and endangered species conservation in the Basin, the Coordination Committee supports the Service in its commitment to notify the tribes when it receives any request for consultation that might affect tribal assets. Additionally the * Adopted by the Coordination Committee, San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program, June 19, 2002.