BOARD01008

• Board Meeting Date: 1/27/2004
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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I highlight this point to emphasize the need for us to work together B and build on our recent
successes B to see that we are prepared to meet this challenge.

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Upper Basin Endangered Fish Recovery Program, Glen Canyon Adaptive
Management Program, and Multi-Species Conservation Plan

Drought isn't the only challenge we face in the Colorado Basin. Meeting the needs of
endangered species while respecting the legal rights of water users has been a priority of the
Department of the Interior under this Administration.

In the Upper Basin, we have had success building multi-stakeholder programs to address the
needs oflisted species. The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the
Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program are examples of how a broad group of
stakeholders B including federal, state, tribal, and private interests - can work together to .
improve water management on the Colorado.

The Upper Basin Fish Recovery Program has faced the challenge of the current drought.
Unfortunately, drought conditions seem to be favoring non-native fish. Our current focus is on
gaining a better understanding of how drought affects listed species.

The Glen Canyon Program uses an interdisciplinary approach to protect and improve the
resource values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation
Area were established .- while meeting the dam's primary project obligation of water delivery.

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Glen Canyon's Adaptive Management Work Group was instrumental in designing and
implementing wide-ranging scientific experiments to improve downstream conditions. We'Ve
taken actions this year to benefit the endangered humpback chub. Flow changes disrupted the
spawning of non-native trout and we physically removed more than 7,500 non-native fish in the
vicinity of the Little Colorado River.

The results have been striking. For the first time, we are observing increasing numbers of young
humpback chub in the Colorado River downstream of Glen Canyon Dam.

We also plan to proceed with an experiment to detennine how to improve beach habitat in the
Grand Canyon. This experiment is linked to storms in the Colorado Basin, but unfortunately
these storms have been missing during the drought. Whenever we return to the historic pattern
of fall monsoon storms in the Paria River drainage, this experiment will proceed.

Our next challenge is to develop and implement a complementary Endangered Species program
in the Lower Basin. The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program is
designed as a collaborative, innovative, science-based effort to address the Endangered Species
Act and water use issues.

In many ways, 2003 was a watershed year for this effort.

Working with our partners, we completed draft versions of the conservation plan, the Biological

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