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<br />
<br />54
<br />
<br />,PACE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW
<br />
<br />[Vol. 11
<br />
<br />'Ii l i"Jlorado Basin fish present "phase three" ESA is-
<br />sues on the grandest scale to date. The Basin covers portions
<br />of six states,lOl including some of the most rapidly growing
<br />areas in the country. The river fish are wide-ranging species
<br />with distinctive habitat needs for different phases of their life
<br />cycles. A sustainable squawfish population, for instance,
<br />"will occupy (and presumably require) hundreds of kilometers
<br />of river."102 The river fish, in sharp contrast to, say, the de-
<br />sert pupfish - whose entire habitat consisted of a single
<br />spring which is now Devil's Hole National Monument - can-
<br />not be protected merely by protecting a single river segment.
<br />Further, since hydrological systems are linked to one an-
<br />other, actions taken upstream will have inevitable'repercus-
<br />sions downstream, both legal and ecological. If the
<br />requirements of the Endangered Species Act are to be met,
<br />FWS will be forced to do more than merely tinker with re-
<br />leases from a few reservoirs. At present the agency is duck-
<br />ing its responsibility.
<br />
<br />tary sell water for purposes of cost-recovery). The appellate court held, how-
<br />ever, that the Washoe Act imposed no such requirement, and held only that the
<br />Secretary was permitted by the ESA to choose to use all of the reservoir's water
<br />for conservation purposes, as he had done in that case. Carson-Truckee Water
<br />Conservancy Dist. v. Watt, 741 F.2d 257, 260-61, 262 n.5 (1984). See also Kil-
<br />bourne, supra note 60, at 566-68. These questions may be further litigated in
<br />the pending suit, Idaho Dep't of Fish and Game v. National Marine Fisheries
<br />Serv., Civ. 93-0345-S-HLR (D. Idaho ftled Sept. 10, 1993), which involves a
<br />challenge to NMFS's biological opinion issued on May 26, 1993, concerning the
<br />operation of the Federal Columbia River Power Systems' impact on listed Snake
<br />River Salmon. The biological opinion called for the release of water stored in
<br />the Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs to assist the downstream migration of
<br />juvenile salmon. Pleadings have been filed through Nov. 9, 1993, as well as
<br />motions of transfer and motions of opposition. A motion for summary judge-
<br />ment was filed by the Attorney General's office on Oct. 18, 1993. Idaho is seek-
<br />ing a declaration from the court that the Federal Columbia River Power
<br />Systems' operation is a violation of the ESA. Telephone Interview with William
<br />S. Whelan, Deputy Attorney General, Natural Resources Division, Attorney
<br />General's Office of Idaho, in Boise, Idaho (Nov. 15, 1993).
<br />101. RIVER BASINS OF THE UNITED STATES: THE CoLORADO, U.S. Dept. of In-
<br />terior/ U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.G.P.O. No. 1993-348-882 (1993). The basin
<br />includes parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Califor-
<br />nia, as well as a portion of Mexico. Id.
<br />102. James E. Deacon & W. L. Minckley, Western Fishes and the Real World:
<br />The Enigma of"Endangered Species" Revisited, in BATTLE AGAINST EXTINCTION,
<br />supra note 2, at 405, 408-09.
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