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1 <br />t <br />1 <br />t <br />11 <br />1 impacts include impacts of "other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future <br />2 actions regardless of what agency (Federal or non - Federal) or person undertakes such <br />3 other actions." 40 C.F.R. § 1508.7. NEPA regulations also provide that significant <br />4 impacts are likely present when wetlands, ecologically critical areas, or endangered and <br />5 threatened species or their critical habitat will be impacted. 40 C.F.R. § 1508.27(b). <br />6 FACTUAL BACKGROUND <br />7 THE HUMPBACK CHUB AND ITS CRITICAL HABITAT <br />8 19. The humpback chub is a three -to -five million - year -old fish that is native <br />9 to the Colorado River Basin. It is medium -sized and part of the minnow family, with <br />10 silvery sides and a brownish back. The chub gets its name from the dorsal hump that <br />11 develops behind its head as it matures. Humpback chub live in river canyons, where <br />12 there are pools, rapids, riffles, and eddies. The chub prefers quiet habitats, such as <br />13 shorelines, eddies and deep pools, and warm water. <br />14 20. The humpback chub was once found throughout the Colorado River <br />15 system, from the Flaming Gorge on the Green River in Wyoming to below the Grand <br />16 Canyon on the Colorado River in Arizona. The chub is now limited to approximately <br />17 six isolated populations throughout the entire Colorado River basin. One of the six is <br />18 located in the Grand Canyon. The chub's current range represents a fraction of what <br />19 once existed. <br />20 21. The humpback chub is currently threatened with extinction due to <br />21 numerous factors. One of the most significant is the presence and operation of dams on <br />22 the Colorado River and its tributaries. Dams have flooded important chub habitat <br />23 throughout the Colorado River Basin by creating reservoirs. Dams have created a <br />24 physical barrier to the movement of sediment, nutrients, organic matter, and other <br />25 organisms necessary to sustain the chub. Dams have changed the downstream aquatic <br />26 habitats by altering natural sediment loads, turbidity, water temperatures, and timing <br />27 and volume of base and flood flows. These habitat changes negatively affect the <br />28 humpback chub by reducing the quality and quantity of spawning and rearing areas, <br />Complaint 7 <br />Case 3:07 -cv- 08164 -DGC Document 1 Filed 12/07/2007 Page 7 of 20 <br />