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in opening the 50 miles of critical habitat on the Gunnison. By October 1999, 47 endangered Colorado pikeminnow, along with thousands of other native fish, had migrated up the ladder during their summer spawning season. The biological opinion on the operation of the Unit will prescribe changes needed to help establish self-sustaining populations of endangered fishes in both the Gunnison and Colorado rivers. Changes will most likely call for operating the Unit to provide higher spring/early summer releases, followed by lower releases the remainder of the year. Operations since 1992 have shown that a more natural hydrograph can be provided while meeting Unit purposes. There is a potential for conflict with Unit purposes in the future, however, dependent on the final flow recommendations for endangered fish. Black Canyon Reserved Water Right The Colorado Water Court has granted a yet to be quantified reserved water right to the United States for the National Park. The reserved right dates to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument's (now National Park) designation in 1933, and thus would be senior to the Aspinall Unit's water rights and many other public and private storage and diversion rights in the basin. Quantification of this right will remove some of the unknowns concerning how this water right and Aspinall Unit operations interrelate. The NPS has conducted studies in the Black Canyon on vegetation, stream organisms, recreation access, and stream morphology to provide data for quantifying the reserved right. Operation of the Aspinall Unit was coordinated to supply flows needed for these studies. The NPS believes a more natural hydrograph, with higher spring flows and lower base flows, would best protect National Park resources. Hydropower The five generators at the three dams of the Unit are capable of generating up to 287.7 megawatts of electricity. Morrow Point is the real powerhouse of the Unit-its generators produce twice as much electricity as those at Blue Mesa. The Western Area Power Administration markets electricity generated by the Unit in conjunction with power from Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge Dams of the Colorado River Storage Project as part of an integrated system that provides electricity to all states of the Colorado River Basin. Power revenues are used to repay project costs, fund endangered species recovery activities, and to operate and maintain other Colorado River Storage Project features. The upstream power plants of the Unit (Blue Mesa and Morrow Point) are unique in that they can be operated to provide peaking power without fluctuating river levels. Crystal Reservoir then serves as a re-regulation reservoir to stabilize flows to the Gunnison River. Peaking operations are critical to help meet moment to moment demands for electricity. The flexibility offered by the three dams of the Unit is of increasing importance as operations at Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge are also being restricted to protect downstream resources. It is becoming increasingly difficult to meet the demands of the power system as electric loads increase and power systems become stressed. Blackouts, as have recently occurred in Arizona A-7