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000620 from years without flood flows. Heightened awareness of the delta and its values is spreading from traditional environmental interests, to the communities that depend on the delta, and to the large institutions that manage water in the Colorado basin and deal with international relations between the US and Mexico. Anyone of a number of related issues that will be investigated, discussed, and negotiated in the near future may offer an avenue to address the delta's ecological needs. Armed with these facts and the knowledge that the Colorado River delta is worth protecting, individuals and organizations concerned with its future should be able to make a difference. OMMENDATIONS The goal [of modern efforts to manage nature] is to get humanity's role in nature back to the right size, neither too big nor too small, neither too powerful nor too powerless. -Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest, 1987 CONCLUSION Preservation of the Colorado River delta ecosystems will be a complex task. In recent years, consistent base flows and periodic flood flows have restored relatively small but significant remnants of the once extensive delta marsh wetlands and riparian areas. These restored habi- tats support wildlife and provide a number of other ecologically important goods and services. None of these flows, however, are guaranteed in the future and they are likely to diminish even further absent affirmative arrangements to preserve and assure them. The quan- tification of the delta ecosystems' minimum water needs, presented in this report, represents an important step in developing a binational program to restore and protect these ecosystems for the benefit of wildlife and people. Although the basic mandate - keep sufficient water in the river-seems simple, the means to this end will require the alignment of numerous institutions, agree- ments, and organizations. Further research is needed, to improve both understanding and documentation of the delta's water needs. Perhaps the most fundamental recommendation is that public attention needs to be - and remain - focused on the significance and value of the delta ecosystems. The massive institutional commitments required to ensure the delta's future will require both international stakeholders and local communities to develop strong and vigilant voices demanding that attention be paid to the Colorado River delta. The scale at which change needs to take place is large, and conservation of the delta appears to be a vast chal- lenge, yet there appears to be a strategic moment of opportunity at present. The delta itself has recovered RECOMMENDATIONS Most of the recommendations we propose for restora- tion of the Colorado River delta can neither be achieved in a short time frame, nor by anyone stakeholder. However, some changes will be easier to pursue than others, so we have separated near-term and long-term actions. There are numerous roles to play for the many Colorado River delta stakeholders. For those recommen- dations with clear jurisdictions and interests, we have listed agencies and organizations that should be involved. In addition, we recognize that many of these recommendations should be pursued by the nongovernmental organizations and research institu- tions described in this report (and surely also for some that are not). These groups playa significant role in the delta's restoration, but out of respect for their indepen- dence, we have not taken the liberty of assigning roles.