Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation in the Colorado River Basin for the Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, Colorado Squawfish, and Bonytail April 1994

• Description: Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation in the Colorado River Basin for the Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, Colorado Squawfish, and Bonytail April 1994
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 4/1/1994
• Title: Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation in the Colorado River Basin for the Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, Colorado Squafish, and Bonytail April 1994
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Estimating the economic impacts of the critical habitat designations poses formidable
challenges because many impacts will result from future Section 7 consultations pursuant to
provisions of the Act. Such consultations between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
( USFWS) and other Federal agencies may identify reasonable and prudent alternatives to
destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat that allow projects to proceed without
significant economic impacts. The Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish
Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin and the San Juan Recovery Implementation
Program (RIPs) have allowed some water development in the Upper Basin to proceed
concurrently with efforts to recover endangered fishes. Participants in these programs intend
for the RIPs also to provide reasonable and prudent alternatives to the destruction or
modification of critical habitat.
It is impossible, however, to predict the outcome of all future Section 7 Consultations
involving endangered fishes in the Colorado River Basin. If the RIPs do not show sufficient
and timely progress in recovering endangered fishes, some planned water developments may
be modified, scaled back, delayed, or foregone. This assumption provides an upper bound
on the potential magnitude of economic effects associated with the critical habitat
designations. If the RIPs are successful in achieving their objective, many of the negative
economic impacts described in this report can be avoided.
Utilizing projected economic growth data, economic activity levels were projected for the 20
economic sectors. This assumed that no actions were taken to recover the endangered fishes
and formed the "without fish" scenario. Incorporating the changes in economic activity
necessary to recover the fishes led to a second set of economic projections — a "with fish"
scenario. The differences between the "without fish" and "with fish" scenarios formed the
net economic impacts of listing and critical habitat designation. A methodology developed
by the USFWS for distinguishing between listing and critical habitat actions under the Act
was applied to determine the incremental impacts of the critical habitat designation.
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