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over a 15-year time period, returns a nominal rate of 6 percent per year,2 and is effectively leveraged against other public and private sources of revenue, the Department estimates :hat a capitalization of $24.5 million is necessary. II. Cooperative Agreements, Recovery Programs, and Other Programs Designed to Meet Obligations Arising Under the Endangered Species Act Colorado is currently involved in three river basin-oriented endangered species and habitat recovery programs: the San Juan River Recovery Program, the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program, and the recently executed Cooperative Endangered Species Agreement for the Platte River Basin. These programs are designed to protect species and habitat currently listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, while allowing water use and development to proceed under state law and interstate compacts (see Appendices D, E, and G for copies of the Cooperative Agreements). In addition, Colorado is coordinating the first Habitat Conservation Planning process to be conducted in Colorado for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse. When completed in May of 1999, the Preble's meadow jumping mouse Conservation Pan and implementing agreements will protect the mouse and its habitat and provide the regulatory compliance mechanism that assures a broad range of human activities along the rapidly growing Front Range can continue without unnecessary federal regulation. After years of hard work and study, the San Juan and Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Programs are beginning to yield positive results. Operating under Cooperative Agreements in place since 1988 (Upper Colorado Program) and 1992 (San Juan Program), these Programs are designed to protect four endangered fish species occurring in the Colorado River Basin while allowing water development to continue in accordance with the State of Colorado's entitlements under the Colorado River Compact. In addition to Colorado, the states of Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, water users, and the environmental community are engaged in this effort. As of August 30, 1998, more than 200 water development projects in the Upper Colorado River Basin have received required clearances under the federal Endangered Species Act. (See Appendices F and H.) Populations of two of the four target species - the Colorado River squawfish and the humpback chub - are stable or increasing in response to habitat management actions throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin. The razorback sucker is responding less well, and the bonytail chub remains rare throughout the basin. As of September 1998, work has progressed on the provision and protection of flows required to sustain the fish, the development and maintenance of 2 The nominal rate of return is not adjusted for inflation. Native Species Conservation Trust Fund Page 5 Annual Report to the Colorado General Assembly Colorado Department of Natural Resources