BOARD01138

• Board Meeting Date: 3/29/1999
• Description: Legislation - Long-Term Funding Legislation
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Briefing Paper to Accompany
The Upper Colorado River and San Juan River Program
Long-term funding Legislation

Background

The Colorado River Basin is home to 14 native fish species; eight of these have seriously
declined; and four species -- the Colorado squawfish, razorback sucker, bonytail chub, and
humpback chub -- are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

State and federal laws protect endangered fish. The federal Endangered Species Act
declares that endangered and threatened species of fish, wildlife and plants are of aesthetic,
ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the nation and its
people. In passing this Act, Congress expressed its intent that endangered species should
be protected and recovered.

In order to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act and provide adequate water
supplies two cooperative intergovernmental programs have been established:

· the 1988 Cooperative Agreement to implement the Recovery Implementation Program
for the Endangered fish Species in the Upper Colorado River dated September 29,
1987; and

· the 1992 Cooperative Agreement to implement the San Juan River Recovery
Implementation Program dated October 21, 1992.

The state of Colorado, the state of Utah, the state of Wyoming, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation, the U.S. fish and Wildlife Service (Region 6), the Western Area Power
Administration, environmental organizations like the Nature Conservancy and the
Environmental Defense fund, water development interests, and federal power customers
are the main participants in the Upper Colorado River Program.

The state of Colorado, the state of New Mexico, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the Ute
Mountain Ute Indian Tribes, the Jicarilla-Apache Indian Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. fish and Wildlife Service (Region 2 and 6), the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and water development interests, are the
main participants in the San Juan River Program.

State and federal agencies, Indian tribes and private organizations are cooperating through
the recovery programs to achieve recovery of endangered fish while meeting continuing
demands for water in the arid West. The participants in these recovery programs share in
the planning and implementation of the recovery actions and regulatory solutions.
Decisions are made by consensus in the Upper Colorado River Basin Program and by a
two-thirds majority vote in the San Juan River Program. The recovery programs work
within state laws and support water development Wider interstate water compacts. The