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30 <br />section 7 consultation, and the impact of State or private actions which are <br />contemporaneous with the consultation in process. As discussed below, the <br />past and aresent impacts of Federal, State, and private water depletions have <br />resulted in drastic reductions in populations of the four endangered fish <br />species. The species have been further impacted by the stocking on nonnative <br />fish species. Because section 7 consultation has been reinitiated for all <br />existing and new Federal water projects in the Duchesne River Basin, no <br />Federal projects in the Duchesne River Basin have completed section 7 <br />consultation and, therefore, are not included in the environmental baseline. <br />Based on information provided by the Assistant Utah State Engineer in a letter <br />dated October 24, 1997, the anticipated impact of State and private water uses <br />contemporaneous with this consultation results in an average annual depletion <br />of 120,000 acre-feet of water. Thus the pre-development or virgin flow of the <br />Duchesne River (768 KAF), minus State and private water uses (120 KAF), <br />results in an environmental baseline flow of 648 KAF. <br />Impoundments and diversions have reduced peak discharges in various river <br />reaches throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin since 1942, while increasing <br />base flows in other reaches. These depletions, along with a number of other <br />factors, have resulted in such drastic reductions in populations of Colorado <br />squawfish, humpback chub, razorback sucker, and bonytail that the Service has <br />listed these species as endangered, designated their critical habitats, and <br />has implemented programs to prevent them from becoming extinct. <br />With the exception of traditional diversions by Native Americans, the first <br />major diversions from the Duchesne River basin began as early as 1879 when <br />settlers in Heber Valley began diverting water collected in the Strawberry <br />Valley to Daniels Creek for agricultural use in the Bonneville Basin. <br />Concurrently, a number of "in basin" users diverted water directly from the <br />Duchesne River for irrigation purposes and to meet the needs of individuals <br />living along the mainstem river and its tributaries. With construction of the <br />Strawberry Valley Project in 1922, reservoirs and tunnels transferred water <br />from the Duchesne River basin to the Wasatch Front and laid the foundation for <br />the Bonneville Unit of Central Utah Project. Many features of the Bonneville <br />Unit have been constructed and are operating while others are still in <br />planning stages. The reduction in natural flows and the distribution/delivery <br />of remaining water within the Duchesne River has seriously reduced the ' <br />availability of habitats for the Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker. The <br />channel configuration has changed dramatically since the late 19th century <br />(Brink and Schmidt 1996). As reported by Brink and Schmidt (1996), the <br />present channel of the Duchesne River is narrower and much less sinuous than <br />