9415

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9415
• Author: Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
• Title: Species Conservation Trust Fund ‎(HB 98-1006)‎\
• USFW Year: 1999.
• Copyright Material: NO

habitat, the stocking of native fish, control of non-native competitors, and additional
research and monitoring.
Key Issues: Work continues on developing a programmatic mechanism to ensure
that all historic depletions and some level of future depletions from the Colorado
River above the 15 Mile Reach near Grand Junction can proceed in compliance
with the ESA. This programmatic mechanism, called a programmatic biological
opinion, will become a defining feature of the Upper Colorado River Recovery
Program. Work also is proceeding on the development of basin-wide water
management plan for the Yampa River basin. This plan will articulate how water
will continue to be provided for human consumptive uses and address low-flow
conditions that may prevail in the lower Yampa River during the later summer
months that can negatively affect the endangered fish. This emerging Yampa Plan,
which is an important component of the more comprehensive Upper Colorado
River Recovery Program, is a collaborative effort involving elected officials and
residents in the Yampa basin. It is expected to be complete by the end of 2000.
The San Juan Program continues to provide the regulatory compliance mechanism
- called the reasonable and prudent alternative - that ensures the ESA is not an
insurmountable hurdle for the development of some version the of the Animas - La
Plata water supply project near Durango. Specifically, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service has determined that up to 57,100 acre-feet of annual depletions from the
Animas River are permissible under the ESA as long as the San Juan Recovery
Program continues to make progress toward recovering the listed fish species in the
San Juan River Basin.
Finally, Senator Wayne Allard and Congressman Scott McInnis, working with a
diverse group of water users, electric power suppliers, environmentalists, and state
and federal agencies, have introduced bills in Congress to provide for the federal
government's share of funding for the San Juan and Upper Colorado River
Programs. (See Appendix I.) The bills also identify cost sharing by the states of
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, and recognize contributions that are
being made by consumers of electricity generated by federal hydropower projects.
Anticipated Long-term Costs: The San Juan and Upper Colorado River Programs'
capital projects could cost as much as $100 million during the remaining seven to
nine years of their anticipated duration. Under the proposed cost-share in the
recently introduced federal funding legislation, Colorado's share for completion of
the San Juan and Upper Colorado Programs is projected to be about $9 million.
The balance - about $91 million - will be paid for by our funding partners: the U.S
Bureau of Reclamation, and the states of Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, and
electric power customers.
Recommended Expenditures from the HB 98-1006 Fund in FY 1999-2000• The
DNR recommends allocating $222,000 from the Fund to the San Juan and Upper
Native Species Conservation Trust Fund Page 6
Annual Report to the Colorado General Assembly
Colorado Department of Natural Resources