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Statement of Policy and Procedure <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Adopted March 9, 1994 <br />Page 3 <br />concerning Section 7 Consultations, Sufficient Progress, and <br />Historic Projects" (and the "Recovery Action Plan" which is a <br />part of that Agreement) reflects the CWCB's commitment to proceed <br />expeditiously with the other Recovery Program participants to <br />recover the endangered fishes while allowing water development to <br />proceed. <br />The CWCB has entered into an Enforcement Agreement (dated <br />September 21, 1993) with the FWS concerning the enforcement and <br />protection of fish recovery instream flow water rights. The CWCB <br />expects that its efforts to establish reasonable and expeditious <br />protection of fish recovery instream flows will be duly <br />recognized by the FWS in Section 7 consultations in its <br />evaluation of the Recovery Program as a reasonable and prudent <br />alternative" for avoiding "jeopardy" and the "destruction or <br />adverse modification" of critical habitat. <br />A fundamental premise underlying Colorado's participation in <br />the Recovery Program is that protection of fish recovery instream <br />flows will not deprive the people of the state of Colorado of the <br />beneficial use of those waters available by law and interstate <br />compact. <br />The CWCB's flow protection efforts during the first five <br />years of the Recovery Program have been limited by several <br />factors, including limited knowledge of the life history and <br />ecological requirements of the endangered fishes, difficulties in <br />quantifying Colorado's allocation of Colorado River water <br />supplies, and difficulties in predicting the size and location of <br />future human needs for those water supplies within Colorado. <br />The best scientific information and methodologies currently <br />available cannot prescribe with certainty or precision the flows <br />required in different stream segments or at different times of <br />the year to recover the endangered fishes and protect their <br />habitat. Similarly, the best data and analytical methods <br />available today are not sufficient to determine the effect which <br />fish recovery instream flow appropriations may have upon <br />Colorado's future water development opportunities. There is a <br />state program underway to develop an information system, known as <br />the Colorado River Decision Support System (CRDSS), which will <br />improve our ability to analyze the effect of the Recovery Program <br />on compact development opportunities. Interim information will <br />be available during the development of the CRDSS, but the overall <br />work will take several years to complete. <br />Colorado and the other Recovery Program participants have <br />studied the existing data concerning the endangered fishes and <br />