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<br />Status of Recovery Actions bv Proeram Element <br /> <br />I. Instream Flow Identification and Protection <br /> <br />Goal: To protect sufficient instream flows to support self-sustaining populations of the <br />endangered fishes. <br /> <br />Status: <br /> <br />· The Service revised the report entitled Flow Recommendations to Benefit <br />Endangered Fishes in the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers based on Biology <br />Committee recommendations. The Service sent the revised report back to the <br />Biology Committee for review on April I, 2003. It was approved by the <br />Biology Committee during a conference call on May 15,2003. The document <br />currently is available on the Recovery Program participants' website at <br />http://www.r6.fws.gov/crrip/doc/GunnCoflowrec.pdf.Printed and bound <br />copies should be available by the end of August. Reclamation has begun <br />modeling operations of the Aspinall Unit to try to meet these flow <br />recommendations, for which it will prepare an EIS; The Service and <br />Reclamation will initiate discussions in September 2003 to develop an <br />approach for addressing ESA compliance for Aspinall reoperations, as well as <br />other Gunnison Basin projects. <br /> <br />· No Coordinated Reservoir Operations (CROS) were undertaken in 2003 <br />because reservoirs began the year at record lows and operators used all <br />available water to refill reservoirs. In April, Xcel Energy, Denver Water and <br />West Slope water users reached an agreement to relax the Shoshone call from <br />1200 cfs to 700 cfs so that reservoirs in the upper basin could store additional <br />water to recover from the 2002 drought. This landmark agreement resulted in <br />additional reservoir storage upstream from the Shoshone powerplant totaling <br />nearly 24,000 af, and helped Green Mountain, Williams Fork, and Dillon <br />reservoirs fill by early July. Because Green Mountain Reservoir filled, surplus <br />water should be available in late summer to supplement fish flows in the 15- <br />Mile Reach. Unexpected snowfall in late spring built snowpack to about <br />average conditions and a warm spell in late May and early June resulted in an <br />instantaneous peak of near 20,000 cfs at Cameo. This peak was short-lived and <br />may have caused an earlier onset of below-average flow conditions beginning <br />in early July. <br /> <br />· The Coordinated Facilities Operations Study (CFOPS) was initiated in 1999 to <br />investigate alternatives for supplying up to an additional average annual 20,000 <br />af of water to the IS-Mile Reach. Phase I of this project examined a wide <br />range of possible alternatives that were subjected to a preliminary screening <br />process. to arrive at a short list of alternatives to be intensely studied in Phase <br />II. The final report on Phase I was completed in September 2000. The Phase <br />II Draft Report has been completed and an Executive Summary has been <br />prepared by the CFOPS Executive Committee. Numerous alternatives were <br />considered in the Phase II Study and summarized in the Executive Summary. <br /> <br />3 <br />