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fishes, which may not always be accomplished efficiently under earlier goals which were tied to <br />mitigating project impacts. Mr. Evans stated. He identified four main problems with interstate <br />impacts of ESA implementation on the Colorado River: 1) defining "recovery" so that it will be <br />recognized when it is achieved; 2) adequate funding to assure timely implementation of recovery <br />actions; 3) pre - listing protection for habitat and species in decline; and 4) the non - productivity of <br />litigation in resolving ESA issues. <br />John Shields, Wyoming Interstate Streams Engineer, next spoke. He addressed the Platte River <br />Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed between Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado. He <br />said the MOA was motivated by three developments. First, he cited Department of Interior <br />(DOI) recommendations for conditioning a FERC hydropower relicensing for a project in <br />Nebraska upstream from critical habitat for the whooping crane. Nebraska proposed and the EIS <br />preferred alternative included creation of an "environmental account" to augment flows as <br />needed; however, the DOI recommendations included three times that amount. The second <br />development is the renewal of hundreds of special use permits for water projects with rights of <br />way through Forest Service land being conditioned on maintaining minimum instream flows. <br />These permits include constructed and operating projects. USFWS has advised the Forest <br />Service that Section 7 consultations are required on the activities on federal lands. Seven <br />Colorado projects have obtained favorable biological opinions containing "interim" reasonable <br />and prudent alternatives based on the development of the Central Platte River Recovery <br />Implementation Program. The USFWS position is that any water depletions, regardless of <br />quantifiable impacts, result in jeopardy downstream. The third development is the Bureau of <br />Reclamation's informal Section 7 consultation and review of existing operations of North Platte <br />Reservoirs, which began about three years ago. Mr. Shields believes the DOI will seek water for <br />endangered species through reoperation of existing projects. These developments have prompted <br />the states to develop a Platte River habitat management plan for endangered species, even though <br />the Platte River Joint Study efforts of the past ten years ended in frustration. A federal work <br />group has also been convened to work on these issues. Mr. Shields urges amendment of the ESA <br />to allow states a real voice and vote in key matters and issues with management issues. <br />Philip Mutz, of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, provided the concluding <br />presentation on interstate integration efforts. He described the cooperative agreement for the San <br />Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program entered into in 1992 by the Department of <br />Interior, several Indian tribes, and the States of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The Program <br />is designed to provide the foundation for a long -term program to recover endangered fish in the <br />San Juan River Basin. The specific goals of the Program are to conserve populations of Colorado <br />squawfish and razorback suckers in the Basin, and to proceed with water development in the <br />Basin. The San Juan River is a major tributary of Colorado River in the Upper Basin drainage. <br />The cooperative agreement has a term of 15 years. However, the releases authorized pursuant to <br />the final biological opinion for the Animas- LaPlata Project will last for the life of the project. A <br />draft jeopardy opinion on the bi -state project was issued in 1990. The program provides a 7 -year <br />period to define needed measures for recovering endangered fish species. It identifies several <br />hypotheses for testing with regards to flow and habitat conditions required by the fish species. <br />11 <br />