Draft Environmental Assesment and Finding of No Significant Impact Gunnision River Activities February 1995

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operation and maintenance of the Redlands Diversion Dam will not be affected by the fish passage facilities. A construction, operation, and maintenance agreement is being negotiated between RWPC, Reclamation, the Service, and the city of Grand Junction. This agreement will spell out specific responsibilities of the parties. A summary of this agreement is found in Attachment C. The Service will monitor fish use of the passageway and of the Gunnison River. This monitoring, to begin in 1996, will include radio tracking the fish to determine their movements in relation to the passageway. Interim Water Agreement To ensure adequate flows to operate the fish passageway and to maintain and study habitat in the Gunnison River downstream from the Redlands Diversion Dam, an interim (temporary, 5 year) water agreement is being negotiated among Reclamation, the State of Colorado represented by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Under the agreement, Reclamation will deliver sufficient water from the Aspinall Unit to maintain a minimum flow of 300 cfs in the Gunnison River below the Redlands Diversion Dam during the months of July through October. Based on records from 1973 through 1994, the 300 cfs flow is already met or exceeded 81 percent of the time in July through October and 86 percent of the time in November through June, based on monthly averages. Thus releases under the agreement would only be necessary a limited time to meet the 300 cfs. The 300 cfs represents the interim recommendation of the Fish and Wildlife Service and may be modified as additional data is collected. A portion of the same water will be used to operate the fish passageway. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Colorado will study and evaluate the effects of the releases on occupied habitat of endangered fish in the Gunnison River. Recommendations will be made, based on these studies, on development of a long -term water supply contract. In addition, the effects of the interim agreement on other water uses in the basin will be monitored, thus providing important data for use in developing a long -term contract. Attachment B highlights provisions of the draft agreement. Three alternatives are being considered for how the agreement will address historic water use patterns that have developed since the completion of the Aspinall Unit and these are discussed below. Alternative A, which provides fish flows of 300 cfs from July through October and historic levels of protection to water users based on water supplies and existing contracts, is the preferred alternative. Under all alternatives, including No Action, water would be available for sale from the Aspinall Unit for municipal, industrial, irrigation, or other purposes. Alternatives No Action On any program, the "No Action" alternative exists. Under this alternative, a fish passageway would not be constructed under the Recovery Program and the interim water agreement would not be executed. There would be no special effort to maintain a flow of 300 cfs below the