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1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND Just after the end of World War II the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ("Reclamation") began a comprehensive inventory of water development potential in the Colorado River basin. Included in this inventory. was the identification of the potential Juniper Reservoir/Deadman Bench Canal, Maybell, and Cross Mountain projects on the Yampa River mainstem. Following the 1948 Upper Colorado River Compact and authorization of the Colorado River Storage Project (which included the Glen Canyon, Curecanti, Navajo, and Flaming Gorge projects), these Yampa River projects were designated as possible participating projects and were earmarked for further study. The Colorado River Water Conservation District ("River District") filed for water rights for the Juniper project shortly after the post-compact studies of the Yampa and neighboring White River basins were completed by Reclamation in 1957. In 1962, River District was granted water rights for the project with a 1954 priority date. - While the River District has maintained diligence on the Juniper Project water rights, the development of the project has not gone forward, largely for economic and environmental reasons. In 1973, the United States Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Among other things, the ESA outlined procedures for the identification and listing of endangered species and called for consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") on Federal actions that might impact those species. In 1983, the Service officially listed three species of native Colorado River fishes (the Colorado River squawfish, the Humpback Chub, and the Bonytail Chub) as endangered. Since then a fourth (the Razorback Sucker) has been added to the list. In January of 1988, the Secretary of the Interior signed a cooperative agreement with the Western Area Power Administration and the governors of the three Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to implement a recovery plan (known formally as the Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin, or "Recovery Program" for short) for the endangered fishes in the upper Colorado River basin. This agreement was the product of years of difficult negotiations between state and federal agencies, water development interests, and environmental organizations. It provides for the implementation of a broad range of measures for protection and recovery of the endangered fishes, including water right acquisistion, habitat development and maintenance, hatchery construction, stocking of native species, management of non-native species, and ongoing research. Because of its relatively undeveloped condition, the Yampa River is believed to contain some of the largest remaining areas of natural habitat of the endangered Colorado River fishes; it also contributes significant flows to habitat areas in the Green River. For these reasons the Yampa River has been assigned highest priority for acquisition of water rights for the Recovery Program. In July of 1989, the Service published a study evaluating the habitat use, potential 1 1-1