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and recovery. Areas not included in critical habitat that contain one or more of the essential <br />elements for a species may still be important to its conservation; they may be addressed <br />under other facets of the Act, and other conservation laws and regulations. Designated areas <br />may also be of considerable value in maintaining ecosystem integrity and supporting other <br />species, but these values are only considered in the economic analysis and exclusion process <br />when designating critical habitat. <br />PRIMARY CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS <br />In determining which areas to designate as critical habitat for a species, the Service considers <br />those physical and biological attributes that are essential to species conservation (i.e., <br />constituent elements). In addition, the Act stipulates that the areas containing these elements <br />may require special management considerations or protection. Such physical and biological <br />features are stated in 50 CFR 424.12 and include, but are not limited to, the following items: <br />FEATURES <br />- Space for individual and population growth, and for normal behavior; <br />- Food, water, or other nutritional or physiological requirements; <br />- Cover or shelter; <br />- Sites for breeding, reproduction, rearing of offspring; <br />- Habitats that are protected from disturbance or are representative of the historic geographical and <br />ecological distributions of a species. <br />The primary constituent elements determined necessary to the survival and recovery of the <br />four Colorado River endangered fishes include, but are not limited to: <br />Water--This includes a quantity of water of sufficient quality (i.e., temperature, dissolved <br />oxygen, lack of contaminations, nutrients, turbidity, etc.) that is delivered to a specific <br />location in accordance with a hydrologic regime that is required for the particular life stage <br />for each species. <br />Physical Habitat--This includes areas of the Colorado River system that are inhabited by fish <br />or potentially habitable for use in spawning, nursery, feeding, and rearing, or corridors <br />between these areas. In addition to river channels, these areas also include bottomlands, side <br />channels, secondary channels, oxbows, backwaters, and other areas in the 100-year <br />38