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Lease
<br />Elkhead Reservoir Enlargement
<br />Short-Term Water Supply
<br />This LEASE is entered into this 17~' day of February, 2005, by and between the United
<br />States of America, Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") and
<br />Bureau of Reclamation ("Reclamation"), both acting through the Secretary of Interior,
<br />pursuant to the Act to Authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to Provide Cost Sharing for
<br />the Endangered Fish Recovery Implementation Programs for the Upper Colorado and
<br />San Juan River Basins, (October 30, 2000,114 Stat. 1602, Public Law 106-392 ), and
<br />acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, and the Colorado River Water
<br />Conservation District ("River District"), acting by and through its Colorado River Water
<br />Projects Enterprise.
<br />RECITALS
<br />WHEREAS, the Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species
<br />in the Upper Colorado River Basin ("Recovery Program") dated September 29, 1987, is
<br />implemented by a Cooperative Agreement, signed in January of 1988 by the Secretary of
<br />the Department of the Interior, the Governors of the States of Colorado, Utah, and
<br />`Wyoming and the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration. The
<br />Recovery Program is a coalition of agencies and organizations .The goal of the Recovery
<br />Program is to recover four species of endangered fish while allowing water development
<br />to proceed consistent v<~ith state water law and in compliance with the federal Endangered
<br />Species Act ("ESA") in the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; and
<br />V~HEREAS, Public Lave 106-392, enacted on October 30, 2000, authorizes
<br />Reclamation to, among other things, provide cost sharing for capital construction projects
<br />under the Recovery Program. Public Lave 106-392 also authorizes Reclamation to use
<br />power revenues to provide up to $4 million per year to fund monitoring and research; and
<br />operation, maintenance, and repair of capital project features associated with the
<br />Recovery Program through the year 2011. Furthermore the law provides for monitoring,
<br />operation, maintenance and repair funding beyond 2011; and
<br />~~~HEREAS, the River District is a political subdivision of the State of Colorado
<br />created and existing pursuant to its Organic Act, Section 37-46-101, et seq., C.R.S., and
<br />other applicable Colorado lave. The River District owns and conducts a business engaged
<br />in water activities pursuant to the Water Activity Enterprise Act, Section 37-45.1-101, et
<br />seq., C.R.S., in order to provide for the beneficial use of water within the District. The
<br />River District's Board of Directors confirmed its authority to operate such a business by
<br />Resolutions adopted on July 16, 1985, October 19, 1993, October 19, 1999, and October
<br />17, 2000. The River District has authority to perform all acts and things necessary or
<br />advisable to secure and insure an adequate supply of water, present and future, which
<br />I:Z00?~ClientsRi~er District'."sl-Elkhead-1028' A~ree~ents~?0 Yea: Lease fiAal.wpd
<br />Februan° 2~, 200 j ~H'~~
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