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II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I - '" . 1 O:-:?3""" 8 d.... 1. protection needs, were used to designate critical habitat for the razorback sucker (FR, Vol. 59, No. 54, March 21, 1994). d. Effects of the Action: "A description of the manner in which the action may affect any listed species or critical habitat and an analysis of any cumulative effects." Again, 50 CFR 402.02 provides definitions of potential effects of the action. These are: "Effects of the action refers to the direct and indirect effects of an action on the species or critical habitat, together with the effects of other activities that are interrelated or interdependent with that action, that will be added to the baseline." Direct and indirect effects are discussed in Section IV for each species and critical habitat. Due to the various laws, decrees, and other directives associated with the "Law of the River," Reclamation considers the diversion and distribution of entitlement waters, subject to beneficial use and waste determinations, as not being under the meaningful discretion of the Secretary and, therefore, such non-Federal actions are not considered as interrelated or interdependent actions. However, they are considered as being contemporaneous and cumulative to the action under consultation and are addressed as such in "Section III. Environmental Baseline." Also, past and on going ESA compliance for authorized Reclamation projects (e.g., Central Arizona Project (CAP), Robert B. Griffith Water Project, and Front Work and Levee System Project) are summarized as part of the environmental baseline. "The environmental baseline includes the past and present impacts of all Federal, State, or private actions and other human activities in the action area, the anticipated impacts of all proposed Federal projects in the action area that have already undergone formal or early section 7 consultation, and the impact of State or private actions which are contemporaneous with the consultation in process." The environmental baseline is a complex and difficult issue not only to identify, but to quantify historically. Many reviewers of the March 1996 draft of this document recommended that the description of the environmental baseline be improved. In responding to specific and general comments, Section II of this document has been revised to provide a chronology of major events on the lower Colorado River, additional description on temporal changes in flora and fauna, an expanded review of past and other ongoing consultations, and a discussion of contemporaneous (e.g., diversion and distribution of entitlement waters) and cumulative activities (future, reasonably certain to occur non-Federal actions). Although Section III addresses much of the baseline, a full picture of the environmental base line will require the inclusion of water management (e.g., historical and present hydrography) of Section II and current species range and status in section IV. Effects due to the Secretary's non-discretionary actions are considered as part of the baseline. "Indirect effects are those that are caused by the proposed action and are later in time, but still are reasonably certain to occur." 12