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Hail, Pitts & Associates <br />\ CONSULTING ENGINEERS <br />July 22, 1994 <br />MEMO TO: Tommy Thomson <br />Eric Kuhn <br />Eric Wilkinson <br />Peter Evans <br />FROM: Tom Pitts <br />SUBJECT: Follow -up Discussion With Jack Garner, USBR Loveland <br />Project Office Re: Ruedi Round,2 Water Sales and <br />Section 7 Consultation <br />On June 15, we met with Jack Garner to discuss our concerns <br />regarding additional consultations on Ruedi Round 2 water <br />sales resulting from the critical habitat designation, and the <br />problem of committing additional Ruedi water to the Recovery <br />Program, in light of its authorized use for West Slope water <br />users. At that meeting, Garner stated that he would be <br />sending a draft letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service <br />suggesting that existing conservation measures from the <br />previous biological opinion would offset any impacts of the <br />presently envisioned sale of about 15,000 acre -feet in Round <br />2. Therefore, no additional conservation measures or <br />additional water releases from Ruedi to offset the impacts of <br />these sales on critical habitat would be needed. Garner, also <br />stated that the Bureau will suggest a programmatic Section 7 <br />to address all federal projects upstream of - and possibly <br />including - the Grand Valley Project rather than dealing with <br />the consultations one at a time. The programmatic <br />consultation will include the Silt, Colbran, Colorado -Big <br />Thompson, and Frying Pan - Arkansas projects, and it may include <br />the Grand Valley Project. <br />Water users made the following points: <br />1. There should be no permanent commitment of additional <br />water supplies from Ruedi as a result of the critical habitat <br />designation and the subsequent Section 7 consultation <br />reinitiation on Round 2. <br />535 North Garfield Avenue Loveland, Colorado 80537 -5548 303 667 -8690 <br />