7282

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7282
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, R. I. P.
• Title: Final Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1987.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver, Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

along with a review of the new institutional and financial arrangements that
will be necessary to ensure that implementation of these elements is carried
out in an efficient and effective manner.
Institutional Arrangements— It is anticipated that a Recovery Implementation
Committee (Implementation Committee) will be created immediately and charged
with overseeing the development and implementation of specific recommendations
for each of the recovery elements. This committee will be composed of
representatives from Federal agencies
the three States
water develo
ment
,
,
p
interests, and conservation organizations. Under this program, it is expected
that all parties will implement the Implementation Committee's recommendations
as legally appropriate. However, this program cannot, and does not in any
way, diminish or detract from or add to the Secretary's ultimate
responsibility for administering the Endangered Species Act. Nor is it
intended to affect the authorities and responsibilities of the States to
manage and administer their water and wildlife resources.

' Recovery Elements--The recovery program contains five principal elements,
summarized in the following section
Each element will be implemented and
.
evaluated on an ongoing basis to determine its effectiveness toward recovery
and to provide a balanced contribution from all activities.
This
t
bli
h
program es
a
s
es a unique approach for protecting instream flows for
rare fish species' habitat. First, a new fund will be created to be used for
acquisition of water rights and other property interests. Second, the
Implementation Committee will be responsible for seeing that the Service
expeditiously determines flow requirements. The Implementation Committee will
make final recommendations on strategies for establishing instream flows after
consultation with State and other experts. It is expected that the Service
will carry out the Implementation Committee's recommendations on flow
acquisition but will do so by working with the State agencies that are
responsible for instream flow protection. Under this program, water rights
' will be appropriated, acquired, and administered pursuant to State law.
Reclamation will assist in meeting instream flow requirements for the rare
fish through the refined operations of Flaming Gorge, Blue Mesa, and Ruedi
Reservoirs in a manner consistent with all a
licable laws
pp
.
Because the recovery program is intended to provide water rights for instream
flows for rare fish, the Service will consider this approach under Section 7
consultation as offsetting depletion impacts. Through this approach,
depletion impacts of proposed water and water-related projects would not
likely jeopardize endangered species if the program is implemented and project
proponents participate in and contribute toward conservation measures under
this program. Nondepletion impacts (direct impacts) of water projects such as
those caused by construction, inundation, or temperature modifications
resulting from reservoir releases will, however, still be subject to
implementation of alternatives or recommendations to offset such impacts
pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.
While flow protection is important to the maintenance of rare fish habitat,
development and enhancement of nonflow habitat techniques will also contribute
to a balanced approach to the species' recovery. The habitat development
component of this program envisions that habitat management techniques will be
thoroughly tested in the field to assess their effectiveness. Those habitat
management techniques that are determined to be useful to recovery will then

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