8056

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8056
• Author: Hamill, J.
• Title: Restoring and Protecting Instream Flows for Endangered Fish in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1992.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver, CO.
• Copyright Material: NO

and Mexico warrant protection because of their rarity (Williams
et ale 1989). Future losses of fish species can only be expected
to increase unless the degradation of natural ecosystems is
abated.

since 1978, the Fish and wildlife Service (service) has issued
over 160 biological opinions pursuant to section 7 of the
Endangered Species Act on the effects of water development
projects on the Colorado River endangered fish. These opinions
all concluded that the cumulative effects of water depletions
from the Upper Colorado River Basin are likely to jeopardize the
survival of the endangered fish. In 1984, the Service also
produced a draft Conservation Plan that specified minimum flows
for the listed fish throughout the upper basin. Several States
and water development groups responded that the Service's
position on water depletions and minimum streamflows was a direct
conflict with State water right systems and Interstate Compacts.
The result was that a major controversy threatened to develop and
embroil the various State, Federal, and private interests in a
confrontation over endangered species protection and water
development. However, these parties ultimately recognized that
such a confrontation would do little to enhance progress toward
recovery of the listed fish or provide greater certainty that new
water projects could be developed in the upper basin. As a
result, in August 1984, the Service formed the Upper Colorado
River Basin Coordinating Committee (Coordinating committee) to
provide a forum for discussions. Active participants in the
Coordinating Committee included the Service; Bureau of
Reclamation (Reclamation); States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming;
private water development interests; and environmental groups.

After nearly 4 years of intense discussions, data analyses, and
negotiations, the Coordinating Committee produced a plan for
recovering the endangered fish entitled the "The Recovery
Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper
Colorado River Basin" (Recovery Program) (U.S. Fish and wildlife
Service 1987). The plan was formally agreed to by the Secretary
of the Interior (on behalf of the Service and Reclamation); the
Governors of the States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; and the
Administrator of the Western Area Power Administrator in January
1988. Several private water development groups (Colorado Water
Congress, Utah Water Users Association, and Wyoming Water Users
Association) and environmental groups (National Audubon Society,
Environmental Defense Fund, Wyoming Wildlife Federation, and
Colorado wildlife Federation) passed formal resolutions in
support of the Recovery Program and are now full partners in the

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