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HB 1006 <br />Representative Adkins <br />Senator Bishop <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />Estimated Initial Funding Requirements <br />The Department of Natural Resources estimates the total initial funding requirement under BB <br />1006 to be $24.5 million. This amount, if placed into the Species Conservation Trust Fund, <br />would fund several identified programs. <br />The programs that would initially be funded are identified below. As additional needs are <br />identified, the legislature could appropriate additional moneys into the fund. <br />Existing Recovery Programs <br />Colorado is currently involved in three river basin - oriented endangered species and habitat <br />recovery programs: the San Juan River Recovery Program, the Upper Colorado River Recovery <br />Programs, and the recently executed Cooperative Endangered Species Agreement for the Platte <br />River Basin. These programs are designed to protect species and habitat currently listed under <br />the federal Endangered Species Act, and provide regulatory certainty to existing and future water <br />users in Colorado. These programs are designed to allow for full development of Colorado's <br />compact entitlements. <br />Together, the San Juan and Upper Colorado River Programs could cost as much as $120 <br />million during the remaining 7 - 9 years of their anticipated duration. Colorado's share for the <br />completion of the San Juan and Upper Colorado Programs is projected to be about $10 million. <br />The balance -- about $110 million -- will be paid for by our partners, the federal government and <br />the states of Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico. <br />The Platte River Basin effort is expected to cost about $75 million in 1997 dollars over a 13 - <br />16 year period to address the effects of water development as it exists in the Basin as of 1997. <br />Colorado's share will be $15 million for existing water development, plus an additional $3 - 5 <br />million to offset the effects of future development. The balance will be the obligation of our <br />partners. <br />A one time appropriation into the Species Conservation Trust Fund of $17.6 million would <br />address these recovery program obligations. over a fifteen year period. Assuming the fund will <br />generate 6% annual interest, expenditure of the interest and principal would deplete this portion <br />of the fund at the end of the fifteen year period. <br />Declining Species <br />In addition to the three recovery programs described above, there are a number of species in <br />Colorado that are declining to the point that listing under the Endangered Species Act is either <br />imminent or contemplated in the future. These species are often referred to as "candidate <br />