8169b - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

and the Colorado squawfish, the biological determination was based on the primary constituent elements and existing recovery plans for these species. The second step, which this volume is primarily concerned with, is to determine the potential economic impacts of the species listing and proposed critical habitat designations. The final step is to decide which areas, if any, should be excluded based upon economic or other relevant impacts and to determine costs and benefits associated with the final designation. This final step will be addressed after public comments have been received. The study is complex for several reasons. First, the various management practices and flow requirements needed to recover the four fishes were specified for each critical habitat reach in the Colorado River Basin. Second, a study was made of the multitude of direct economic effects due to listing and designation in a seven-State area. Finally, a set of economic models to project the overall (direct and indirect) economic impacts of managing portions of the Colorado River for the four endangered fishes were developed. The links between the biological requirements and the economic model had to be carefully defined. Proper development of the links between the biological requirements and the economics was critical to the evaluation of the impacts of the proposed critical habitat designation. Only if these links were clearly specified could a dollar value of the impacts of designating critical habitat be determined. The economic analysis proceeded along three principal lines. First, the economics team worked with USFWS biologists to identify the ongoing and future management practices that potentially may be altered in order to ensure that the fishes will be protected. This has included the delineation of flow-related activities such as the alteration of hydroelectric generation and nonflow-related activities such as alterations in mining and oil production activities. II-1-2