Price-Stubbs Fish Passage: Final Environmental Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impact

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Price -Stubb Fish Passage FONSI "The Service anticipates incidental take of endangered fishes will be difficult to detect for the following reasons: 1) finding a dead specimen is unlikely, 2) finding remains of endangered fish in the stomachs of nonnative fish is unlikely because digestion makes fish hard to identify, 3) documenting competition is difficult, and 4) fish sampling is rarely conducted between the Government Highline Dam and Price -Stubb Dam. The Service anticipates the amount of take to be small because the proposed fish passage project will only allow nonnative fish access to approximately 3 miles of critical habitat." The Service in its biological opinion issued an Incidental Take Statement and identified reasonable and prudent measures necessary and appropriate to minimi take of Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, and bonytail. Reasonable and prudent measures included: "The Bureau of Reclamation through the Recovery Program shall determine the number and species of nonnative fishes moving upstream in the Colorado River above the Price - Stubb Dam." In order to be exempt from the prohibitions of section 9 of the Endangered Species Act, Reclamation must comply with the following terms and conditions, which implement the reasonable and prudent measure described above. The terms and conditions are nondiscretionary and include: 1. "The Recovery Program shall monitor the numbers and species of nonnative fishes 0 entering the future fish passage facility at the Government Highline Dam and provide an annual report to the Service." 2. "The Recovery Program shall prevent farther upstream travel of nonnative fishes by removing nonnative fishes from the river at the Government Highline Dam when the fish passage facility, with selective passage, is completed." Environmental Commitments The Downstream Rock Fish Passage with Whitewater Features alternative will be constructed based on the following conditions: 1) The Town of Palisade secures non - recovery program funding for the incremental costs associated with the Downstream Rock Fish Passage with Whitewater Features. 2) The Town of Palisade obtains necessary permits from underlying landowners (CDOT, E.R. Jacobson, and Palisade and Mesa County Irrigation Districts) for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the whitewater features. 3) The Town of Palisade assumes ownership, liability, and maintenance responsibility for the whitewater features. 4) The Town of Palisade obtains public access to the whitewater features from the Union Pacific Railroad, E.R. Jacobson and CDOT.