MoU Between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Yampa River Basin Partnership

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AGO NAT. RES. SECTION Fax:3038663558 Oct 28 '97 1147 P.06 3 MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN nM U.S. FISH AND WELDLIFE SERVICE RECEIVED ANA THE . YAwA RIVER BASIN PARTNERSI OCT .2 8 1997 Colorado ater Conservation Whoard rMMF , 7 &Vr,T - Z67Ri Vulz lb �l The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is to establish a cooperative relationship between the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( Service) and the Yampa River Basin partnership (Partnership) to provide sa avenue far effeCarve local involvement and local input to the 'de cm making process related to the development of the Yampa River Endangered F Recovery and Water Management Plan (Yampa Plan). The Service is an executive agency of The United States Department of the Interior. The Partnership is a nonprofit organization formed in 1995, whose mission is to work with the citizens of the Yampa River Basin to balance natural resource and social issues to protect and enhance their quality of life through open coauaunication, education, and coordination of efforts. The Service and the Partnership recogr►ize the compatibility of their purposes with regard to na=al resource protection and public interests in. the Yampa River Basin. Assistance from the Partnership will be beneficial to both agencies/organizations and, more importantly, to the people and endangered fish of the Yampa River Basin. This MOU is entered into by the Service under authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 a =.) and the Fish and wildlife Coordination Act, as amended (42. U.S.C. 66 1) and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 Q EPA), as amended (16 U.S.C. 4321.sl=. ). The ESA charges the Service with developing and implementing recovery plans for conservation and survival of listed species (Section 4(f)(3)), for consulting with other Federal Agencies on actions that might jeopardize threatened or endangered species (Section 7(a)(2)), and for carrying out general provisions of the ESA under Section 15 appropriations. Section 2(c)(2) of the ESA declare that it is the.policy of.Congress that all F.ederalAgendes shall cooperate with State end _- - — local agencies to resolve water resource issues in concert with conservation of endangered species. Accordingly, the Service endeavors to carry out the ESA cooperatively and in close consultation with interests (States, other Federal Agencies, tnbes, interest etc.) potenzMY affected by ESA activities. . In 1988 the Service entered into the Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish= in the Upper Colorado River Basin (Recovery Program), an interagency parhumft aimed at . recovering endangered Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, bonytail, and razorback sucker E-XI41BIT