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2.0 DISCUSSION OF RECOVERY ACTION PLAN ELEMENTS The Recovery Action Plan tables (Section 4.0) contain only very brief descriptions of recovery actions planned in each subbasin. to this section, recovery activities are explained in more detail, as they apply basinwide. 2.1 I. PROTECT INSTREAM FLOWS Recovery cannot be accomplished without protecting and managing sufficient habitat to support self-sustaining populations of the endangered fishes. Protecting instream flows is key to protecting the habitat of these fishes. The first step in instream flow protection is to identify the flow regimes needed by the fish. In the Recovery Program, determining flow needs is primarily the responsibility of the Fish and Wildlife Service (in cooperation with other participants). Factors considered in determining flow needs include: flow effects on reproduction and recruitment; flow effects on food supplies and nonnative fishes; and interrelationships between flow and other habitat parameters believed to be important for the fish, such as channel structure, sediment transport, substrate characteristics, vegetative encroachment, and water temperature. Flow recommendations (for all or certain seasons) have been or are being developed for most river reaches targeted for recovery in the upper basin. Flow recommendations often are made in stages, with initial flow recommendations based on the best available scientific information, historic conditions, and extrapolation from similar reaches. Recommendations then are refined following additional field research. Below Federal dams (i.e. Flaming Gorge and the Aspinall Units), test flows are being provided while research is conducted to determine more precise flow recommendations. Questions have been raised by some parties about the Fish and Wildlife Service's existing flow recommendations. Therefore, the General Recovery Action Plan contains a task to review instream flow methodologies and assess the technical adequacy of existing recommendations. for o State acceptance of flow recommendations is the next step in instream flow protection. In Colorado, acceptance of flow recommendations by the Colorado Water Conservation Board is based on a review of their scientific basis, on legal and physical availability of water, and on an assessment of Compact considerations. Acceptance can be made on two levels in Colorado: one level is legal protection without any special qualifications; the other is for legal protection expressly subject to modification by the State. These levels of state acceptance will control the specific flow amounts to be legally protected by a variety of mechanisms. Breaking state acceptance of flow recommendations into these two levels enables the flows to be legally protected despite uncertainties about the scientific basis for 5