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PURPOSE <br />This document provides Federal, State, Tribal and local agencies, and the public with <br />additional information about the proposed designation of critical habitat for four Colorado <br />River endangered fishes. This document, the economic analysis, and other supporting <br />documents provides additional information on the proposed designation. All comments <br />received will be evaluated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for use in <br />preparation of the final rule designating critical habitat for the four Colorado River <br />endangered fishes. <br />INTRODUCTION <br />The Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended, requires the Service to designate <br />critical habitat to the maximum extent prudent and determinable concurrent with listing a <br />species as endangered or threatened. This proposal is for four species of fish in the <br />Colorado River Basin (Basin) which were listed as endangered without designation of critical <br />habitat. <br />The Colorado squawfish and humpback chub were listed as endangered species on March 11, <br />1967 (32 FR 4001). The bonytail was listed as endangered on April 23, 1980 (45 FR <br />27713). On May 16, 1975, the Service published a notice of its intent to determine critical <br />habitat for the Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, and numerous other species (40 FR <br />21499). On September 14, 1978, the Service proposed critical habitat for the Colorado <br />squawfish (43 FR 41060). The proposal was for 623 miles of the Colorado, Green, <br />Gunnison, and Yampa Rivers. This proposal was later withdrawn (44 FR 12382; March 6, <br />1979) to comply with 1978 amendments to the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq.), that required <br />the Service to include critical habitat in the listing of most species and to complete the listing <br />process within 2 years from the date of the proposed rule or withdraw the proposal from <br />further consideration. The Service did not complete the listing process within the 2-year <br />deadline. The razorback sucker was proposed for listing as a threatened species on April 24, <br />1978 (43 FR 17375). The proposal was withdrawn on May 27, 1980 (45 FR 35410), in <br />accordance with 1978 amendments to the Act. <br />On March 15, 1989, the Service received a March 14 petition from the Sierra Club, National <br />Audubon Society, The Wilderness Society, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Southern Utah <br />Wilderness Alliance, and Northwest Rivers Alliance to list the razorback sucker as an <br />endangered species. The Service made a positive finding in June 1989 and subsequently <br />published a notice on August 15, 1989 (54 FR 33586). This notice also stated that the <br />Service was completing a status review and was requesting that additional information be <br />provided by December 15, 1989. A proposed rule to list the razorback sucker as an <br />endangered species was published on May 22, 1990 (55 FR 21154), and a final rule listing <br />the fish without critical habitat was published on October 23, 1991 (56 FR 54957). In the