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both the new depletions under Blocks 7 & 8 and about 300,000 acre feet almost <br />every year to mimic natural flow patterns during the spring run-off, flows in <br />the mainstem during the fall and early spring would have dropped from 300 to <br />185 cfs, and there was no flexibility left in the operation of Navajo <br />Reservoir to offset even half of the Block 7 & 8 depletions. <br />The reasonable and prudent alternative was to reduce the allowable depletions <br />for two existing Navajo Nation projects already in the ALP baseline, to <br />allocate the savings of 16,420 acre feet to Blocks 7 & 8, and to limit the <br />total depletions of the NIIP to about 150,000 acre feet and not increase the <br />overall baseline depletions until at least the seven year research period for <br />the San Juan Program was completed. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs also <br />agreed to help fund that research and to assist in the protection of the water <br />released from Navajo Reservoir for the listed fishes and several measures were <br />included in the alternative for monitoring and controlling the selenium <br />loading by the NIIP. <br />Program Goals, Elements, Organization, and Funding <br />The "San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program" was adopted on <br />schedule by the signing of cooperative agreement about a year the MOU was <br />signed. The cooperative agreement was effective in November 1992 and will <br />remain in force for 15 years. Like the Upper Basin Program had assumed for <br />the razorback, which was unlisted at the time that program was adopted, the <br />San Juan Program assumes that its implementation will benefit seven other <br />native fish species and avoid their listing. Also like the Upper Basin <br />Program, it has two basic goals: to help recover the Colorado squawfish and <br />razorback sucker, and to allow water development to proceed in compliance with <br />the ESA. The water development goal for the San Juan subbasin is amplified by <br />the federal trust responsibilities to the four affected tribes. The fish <br />recovery goal for the San Juan Program was expressed in terms of implementing <br />the existing recovery plan for the squawfish and the recovery plan for the <br />razorback once it was approved by the FWS. <br />The existing recovery goal for the squawfish was summarized as "establishing <br />and protecting self-sustaining populations in their natural habitat throughout <br />their current range", legally protecting that habitat, and removing the threat <br />of significant fragmentation. The San Juan Program postulates that the goals <br />of the razorback recovery plan will include the genetic banking of presumptive <br />stocks, the maintenance of wild populations in their natural habitat, and some, <br />augmentation of existing populations. Specific goals for the San Juan <br />populations are to be established by the respective recovery teams and <br />approved by the FWS to reflect the contribution of these populations to range- <br />wide recovery. The coordination of the San Juan Program with recovery <br />planning and implementation elsewhere in the Colorado River Basin is left <br />without elaboration to the FWS. <br />The main elements of the San Juan Program are similar to the Upper Basin <br />Program and are presented as a problem statement and course of action for 1) <br />developing subbasin specific recovery goals and a long range action plan, 2) <br />for genetic banking and augmentation of the basin's existing squawfish and <br />razorback populations, 3) for restoring, managing, and protecting flow <br />dependent and other habitat, 4) for protecting and enhancing water quality, 5) <br />for controlling the stocking of non-native fishes, and 6) for biological <br />monitoring and data management. The water quality element is an important <br />difference from the Upper Basin Program; contaminants,and other water quality <br />limits on the recovery of the listed fishes elsewhere in the Upper Basin are <br />addressed outside of that program. <br />Participation in the San Juan Program is organized around its Coordination, <br />Biology, and Navajo Reservoir operating committees. Membership on the <br />Coordinating Committee, which can make decisions by a two-thirds majority, was <br />16