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National Ledger -- Conserving Our Resources, Ensuring our Future <br />Page 1 of 4 <br />go, it. <br />1s{ <br />News I Pop Cultu r Ledger Li te <br />l ornel About Us I Columnists I Contact Us I Submissions I Search I Links <br />Ads by Google Endangered Species dater Conservation Wildlife Jewelry Conserve Energy <br />August 20o6 1 ,,,." ,z ..t....... ._ . :11. >,.x.. r .:_ ..r = . ,.. ". }..., �: . ;.. «_,. :.11 _ _ - -.:,, �—". i=.:3,:1 <br />Font Size Conserving Our Resources, Ensuring our <br />Small Medium Large Future <br />By Jon Kyl <br />Aug 22, 20o6 <br />In a recent column, I wrote about the Colorado River's importance to <br />Arizona. This week, I turn to an unprecedented, joint federal and non- <br />federal effort to protect the environmental splendors of the lower <br />Colorado River. <br />Over the course of the last century, as our state grew, those who lived <br />here began to realize that Arizona did not have enough water to meet <br />the needs of its burgeoning population. So Arizona turned to its largest <br />renewable water source: the Colorado River. With the increasing <br />reliance on the river came the need for dams and other facilities that <br />constitute a ". . . vast, interlocking machinery -a dozen major works <br />delivering water according to a congressionally fixed priorities for <br />home, agriculture, and industrial uses to people spread over thousands <br />of square miles ...," as the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in its 1963 <br />decision in Arizona v. California. <br />There are concerns that these works may have or could adversely affect <br />some native and endangered species and their habitat along the <br />Colorado River such as the southwestern willow flycatcher, the Yuma <br />clapper rail, the bonytail, a native fish of the lower Colorado River, and <br />the razorback sucker, another native 7ish of the lower Colorado. <br />In response to these concerns, federal government and over 5o non- <br />federal parties, including the states of Arizona, California, and Nevada, <br />have joined forces to create the Multi- Species Conservation Program <br />(MSCP). The program is a comprehensive, 50-year effort to conserve <br />wildlife and protect and maintain wildlife habitat on the lower Colorado <br />River while simultaneously accommodating water diversions and power <br />production on the river. <br />MSCP is remarkable because it strikes a balance between the water and <br />power operations on the lower Colorado and the need to conserve and <br />http:// www. nationalledger. com/ artman /publish/article_27267856.shtml 8/23/2006 <br />