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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Lt. Colonel Dorothy F. Klasse <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />razorback sucker and adversely modify or destroy their critical habitat. A <br />reasonable and prudent alternative which offsets jeopardy and adverse <br />modification to critical habitat has been identified. The reasonable and <br />prudent alternative includes: (1) an Animas-La Plata Project that results in <br />an initial depletion of 57.100 acre-feet (Phase I. Stage A only). (2) research <br />to determine endangered fish habitat needs. (3) operation of the Navajo Dam to <br />provide a wide range of flow conditions for the endangered fish. including low <br />winter flows. (4) a procedure to implement flow recommendations. (5) a <br />commitment to release peak flows out of Navajo Dam as agreed upon with the <br />Biology and Navajo Dam Operating Committees (6) a guarantee that. based on <br />the results of the research program and dependent upon the prevailing <br />hydrology. Navajo Dam will be operated for the life of the Animas-La Plata <br />Project to mimic a natural hydrograph. Reclamation has agreed under section 7 <br />(a) 1 to reoperate Navajo Dam for recovery of endangered fishes and (7) legal <br />protection for the reservoir releases instream to and through the endangered <br />fish habitat to Lake Powell. A Memorandum of Understanding and Supplemental . <br />Agreement to protect the releases made from the Navajo Reservoir to and <br />through the endangered fish habitat of the San Juan River to Lake Powell was .I <br />signed in October 1991. <br /> <br />The potential effects of the water depletion proposed by the City of Durango <br />have been analyzed in the context of the ongoing Navajo Dam consultation and <br />those commitments and agreements derived from the Animas-La Plata <br />consultation. Of primary concern is the quantity of water provided to and <br />through the habitat of the endangered Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker <br />in the San Juan River. Water depletions already occurring have created such a <br />decline in the Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker that small additional <br />depletions are considered jeopardy. The amount of historically depleted water <br />from the river's flow (388 acre-feet) may have contributed to the decline of <br />the endangered fishes and is. therefore. likely to jeopardize the continued <br />existence of the endangered fishes. <br /> <br />Critical habitat has been deSignated for the Colorado squawfish and razorback <br />sucker within the 100-year floodplain in portions of their historic range <br />(59 F.R. 13374). Destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat is <br />defined in 50 CFR 402.02 as a direct or indirect alteration that appreciably <br />diminishes the value of critical habitat for both the survival and recovery of <br />listed species. In considering the biological basis for designating critical <br />habitat. the Service f~cused on the primary physical and biological elements <br />that are essential to the conservation of the species without consideration of <br />land or water ownership or management. The Service has identified water. <br />physical habitat. and biological environment as the primary constituent <br />elements. This includes a quantity of water of sufficient quality that is <br /> <br />II <br />