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CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION Purpose and Need This final environmental assessment (EA) discusses a proposal to provide fish passage on the Colorado River near the town of Palisade. The passage would allow movement of endangered fish past the Grand Valley Irrigation Company (GVIC) Diversion Dam. This EA was prepared jointly by the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Endangered Species Act, and related Department of Interior policies and regulations. Based on this document and on comments received, it has been determined that the proposed action is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the environment, and a Finding of No Significant Impact has been prepared. Chapter IV of the EA discusses and responds to comments received on the draft. A need has been identified to allow endangered fish species to move upstream past the GVIC Diversion Dam. The purpose of moving fish upstream is to eventually help restore native Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus lucius) and razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) populations in the 54 miles of the river between the diversion and the town of Rifle (see frontispiece map). Other purposes include protection of existing water rights and uses and, since the passage design is experimental, to help determine if a natural rock passage of the type proposed will be effective and to determine if passage is needed at two additional upstream fish barriers in this 54-mile segment of river. Background Information Recovery Program The Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker are only found in the Colorado River Basin and are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Colorado River has been highly developed for human uses, resulting in significant habitat changes. In addition, introduced nonnative fish are predators on the native fish or compete with the fish for food and habitat. The Service maintains these endangered fish risk extinction unless timely actions are taken to reverse habitat losses. In response, the Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fishes in the Upper Colorado River Basin (Recovery Program) was begun. This is a cooperative effort among the States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; Reclamation, the Service, Western Area Power Administration, water development interests, and environmental organizations with the goal of allowing water development to proceed to meet the needs of society while recovering the endangered fish (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1987a). So long as progress is being made under the Recovery Program, the program serves as the best method of averting confrontations between resource protection and water development; a confrontation that would benefit neither