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October 4, 2000 - Service Regional Director (R -6) transmitted a letter to Senator Burns (MT) <br />advising the Senator that the Corps controls the public review process and requests for extensions <br />of the review period. <br />October 16, 2000 - Corps Brigadier General Strock (Commander, Northwestern Division) <br />transmitted a letter to the Service's Regional Director (R -6) which addressed several actions <br />concerning completion of the Missouri River Biological Opinion. The Corps also provided Corps <br />and public comments on the Draft Biological Opinion, an analysis of the navigation channel and <br />summer low flows, and alternative language on the element of the Reasonable and Prudent <br />Alternative dealing with Gavins Point flows. <br />BIOLOGICAL OPINION <br />DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION <br />An ESA section 7 consultation addresses the effects of a Federal action on listed species and the <br />ecosystems upon which they depend. An ecosystem approach to endangered species and action <br />analysis is consistent with section 2(b) of the Act which states that "The purposes of this ESA are to <br />provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species <br />depend may be conserved ..." The ESA Consultation Handbook (USFWS and NMFS 1998) <br />suggests that consideration be given to conducting ecosystem -based consultations when ongoing or <br />future agency activities may affect one or more species within a regional planning area. When the <br />Federal action at issue is complex or has wide - ranging effects, an ecosystem approach to ESA Section <br />7 consultation may be appropriate. An "ecosystem approach' ' means that the Service looks at the <br />action and its effects throughout an ecosystem, such as a river. <br />The Corps and the Service agreed that the current ESA section 7 consultation falls within these <br />guidelines. Thus, the current consultation on Corps activities is an ecosystem -based consultation and <br />the biological opinion addresses the continuation of the following ongoing MR Projects: <br />• Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem Reservoir System (MR Operations) <br />• Operation of the Kansas River Tributary Reservoir System (KR Operations) <br />• Operation and Maintenance of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project <br />(BSNP) <br />The combined consultation and biological opinion on MR Projects is warranted because the projects <br />each affect the listed species and the ecosystems upon which they depend in the Missouri . and Kansas <br />River systems; all are interrelated or interdependent actions; and the species are wide - ranging. Impacts <br />to listed species from one project often overlap another project and thus, distinguishing impacts is very <br />Proposed Action 31 <br />