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<br /> <br />I <br /> <br />A quantitative and qualitative description of these ~esources will be made, for both <br />current and future conditions, and will be used to define existing and future without- <br />project conditions. Existing conditions are those at: the time the study is conducted. The <br />forecast of the future without-project condition reflects the conditions expected during a <br />50-year period of analysis without reallocated stonilge in Chatfield reservoir of any kind. <br />The future without-project condition provides the qasis from which alternative plans are <br />formulated and impacts are assessed. Since impac( assessment is the basis for plan <br />evaluation, comparison, and selection, a clear defin;ition and a full documentation of the <br />without-project condition are essential. ; <br /> <br />Gathering information about historic and existing r~sources requires an inventory. <br />Gathering information about potential future conditions requires forecasts, which should <br />be made for selected years over the period of analy~is to indicate how changes in <br />environmental conditions are likely to impact problems and opportunities. Forecasting <br />future conditions in an ecosystem may be subjectiv~ and can be very difficult, but is <br />essential in order to formulate restoration projects. It should be done in an iterative <br />manner, seeking input from State and Federal resource agencies and the environmental <br />community, in order to help build consensus about future without project conditions and <br />what outputs the restoration project will produce. A workgroup of stakeholders will be <br />developed to assist in forecasting future conditions and other aspects of this planning <br />step. <br /> <br />Many methods and models are available to measure .existing ecosystem resource <br />conditions and to estimate future conditions of those resources. Habitat models <br />developed for individual species may have limitatiorts when used to assess ecosystem <br />restoration problems and objectives. They do not consider communities of organisms and <br />I <br />typically consider habitat in isolation from its ecosystem context. Single species habitat <br />models may be limiting if used to optimize for a particular species, but they can be useful <br />when carefully applied in the ecosystem context in which the habitat is situated. They can <br />be helpful in identifying important influential functions or structural components for <br />ecosystem projects to address. The assessment methodology chosen for a study should be <br />governed by how well the technique meets the needs of the study goals and objectives <br />and level of detail for a given study. The assessment methodology may include habitat <br />models, or information derived from community or ecosystem assessments using other <br />scientifically based methods that are generally accepted by state or Federal resource <br />agenCIes. <br /> <br />An assessment methodology that involves outputs in ecosystem units (acres x quality <br />index) of stream habitat improved to a less degraded condition and riparian habitat <br />improved to a less degraded condition is desirable. The Corps will first determine if <br />FWS or CDOW have a preferred ecosystem assessment methodology. It is anticipated <br />that these agencies may have a preferred assessment methodology, such as IFlM- <br />PHABSIM (In-stream flow incremental methodology ~ physical habitat simulation). The <br />Corps will also suggest for consideration the following. <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />