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Executive Summary FEIS - Navajo Reservoir Operations Some flexibility in reservoir releases exists because water committed for present or future development is not currently fully used. In the long term, flexibility will diminish; in certain drought years, flexibility to go above 250 cfs may not exist at all. Because of this, this FEIS addresses long-term impacts as if flexibility were not available. Currently, however, there may be a significant amount of water available in many, but not all, years, particularly when the reservoir is full or during high-runoff conditions. Water anticipated to be available for this flexibility will be identified and quantified to the extent possible during the Navajo Reservoir Operations meetings and the scheduling of releases will be discussed. Based on recommendations from resource experts, options will be presented for the use of this water and input will be solicited from the public. Reclamation will use this input to make decisions on the release of water from Navajo Dam. These decisions will reflect a priority desire to augment a 250 cfs minimum release during the irrigation season, maintaining irrigation-season releases above 350 cfs while assuring a spring release as described in the Flow Recommendations and assuring recommended minimum flows within critical habitat can be met. Such a release would benefit recreation, hydropower, water quality, fish and wildlife, and other resources. In response to information gained from monitoring, water release flexibility could also be used to conduct experiments guided by the SJRBRIP. Under this alternative, unusually high inflows (other than those associated with spring runoff) resulting in very high reservoir elevations would be released as a spike flow, if necessary, to avoid an uncontrolled spill. 500/5000 Alternative During the public scoping process, many people and interests requested that minimum releases not be reduced below 500 cfs. This alternative was included to reduce potential impacts to downstream water users' ability to take water at their diversion structures and to downstream recreation users (trout fishery and rafting) by maintaining higher minimum releases than those under the 250/5000 Alternative. Because Flow Recommendations are not fully met by this alternative, reconsultation under ESA on the ALP Project, NIIP completion, and 3,000 acre-feet of minor unspecified depletions would be required. These depletions and other potential uses face an uncertain future. In addition, Navajo Reservoir would infrequently (less than 1 percent of the years) be drawn down below the NIIP inlet works, thus interfering with irrigation deliveries to the NIIP. Further, maintaining the minimum release at 500 cfs limits the ability to develop water and results in spring peak releases of lesser duration and frequency. A minimum release of 500 cfs also limits the ability to meet Flow Recommendations below Farmington because it leaves less water available to meet spring peaks.