9417

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9417
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Final Environmental Assessment
• USFW Year: 1998.
• USFW - Doc Type: Acquisition and Enhancement of Floodplain Habitats along the Upper Colorado, Green, and Gunnison Rivers as part of the Recovery Program for Endangered Colorado River Fishes.
• Copyright Material: NO

3. This EA should be a programmatic EA.
We suggest a better approach would be to
complete this EA as a programmatic EA then
follow with tiering of site-specific EAs for each
site proposed for acquisition.

4. a) The principal concern we have with creating
more flooded bottomlands lies in its possible
enhancement of non-native fish species to the
detriment of the endangered fish.

b) The report utterly fails to raise this issue or
address the possible negative impacts by the
proposed action.

5. Describing a doomsday condition in the No
Action Alternative is unsupported by facts in the
EA. The EA fails to provide any documentation
of events that would cause the retention of land in
private hands to precipitate such a set of
conditions (e.g., decline of wildlife resources).

6. We are disturbed by the statement (page III-3,
column 2, paragraph 3) that implies rejection of

project's purpose and need.

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IThis EA is programmatic, as stated on page I-I
Section B paragraph 3.
.I If there is any significant new information or
unforseen issue relevant to a specific acquisition
and/or habitat enhancement, it will be addressed
through NEP A.
.IOn sites where levees are breached and/or
habitats are altered, additional NEP A will be
conducted as necessary.

.IHabitat restoration will proceed concurrently
with nonnative fish control and stocking of
endangered fishes.
.IBottomland habitat provides food, shelter, and
resting areas for the razorback sucker during the
beginning of its life cycle. If razorbacks cannot
survive the first months of their life cycle because
this habitat is not available, predation and
competition from nonnative fish is a mute issue.

.IThe abundance of food and shelter in the
bottomlands that benefits endangered fish will
also benefit other native and nonnative fish
species. Research is being conducted to
determine how to provide bottomland habitat that
will benefit all types of native fish while limiting
benefits for nonnative fish.

.lIt is well-documented that razorback suckers are
endangered and have continued to decline. It is
reasonable to assume that the same factors that
have contributed to habitat degradation in the past
would continue in the future.
.IThe preferred alternative, acquisition of
easements, would keep lands in private
ownership.
.IIn the arid West, a disproportionate number of
wildlife species depend upon riparian habitat.
Protection and enhancement of these habitats is
expected to benefit wildlife resources.

.IThe goal of the Recovery Program is to recover
the endangered fishes while allowing water

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