BOARD01446

• Board Meeting Date: 1/26/2000
• Description: Colorado River Basin Issues - Endangered Fish Recovery Goals
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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meadow jumping mouse habitat and to see the county HCP process to completion.. Until the
Service establishes recovery goals with applicable crediting mechanisms, the state has no guarantee
its efforts will be taken into account for ESA compliance purposes. Accordingly, $200,000 of the
funds potentially allocated from FY 00-01 will be used for the Division of Wildlife (DOW) to
purchase options, with the consent of the Executive Director of the DNR, on qualified lands. The
options will be executed ifthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service affords credit (to the state's
satisfaction for ESA purposes) in the context oflocal habitat conservation plans, applicable section
7 consultations, or potential delisting determinations. Should the Service fail to do so, or fail to
define and establish quantifiable recovery goals to the state's satisfaction, the DOW, with the
consent of the Executive Director of the DNR, may choose not to exercise those options, or transfer
them to another entity. An additional $50,000 will be matched with anticipated federal funds in an
attempt to complete the planning process for the affected counties.

OTHER DECLINING, AS YET UNLISTED SPECIES

In addition to the species that are the focal point of the cooperative, programmatic efforts
described above, there are a number of species in Colorado that are declining to the point that
listing under the Endangered Species Act is either imminent or contemplated in the future.
These species are often referred to as "candidate species."

These species are not yet under federal jurisdiction. The state, in cooperation with local
governments and private landowners, has initiated programs to help protect some ofthese
species, to manage them to a point at which listing may not be necessary. Iflisting does occur,
these programs are designed to give landowners, water users and others a degree of regulatory
certainty, and a framework or work plan for the eventual delisting of the species.

The Conservation of Aquatic Species program is directed primarily toward developing and
implementing conservation plans and agreements for aquatic species that are not currently listed as
threatened of endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, but which may be listed if no
action is taken. The species benefiting include native fishes of the Arkansas and South Platte basins
and native cutthroat trout.

Anticipated Long term Costs: The long-term costs ofthis effort, as well as a full range of
sources to fund these costs, will be developed through a cooperative planning process.

Status of Activities and Expenditures from the HB 98-1006 Fund in FY 1999-2000:
For Arkansas River habitat easements, coordination among DOW staff and the Natural Resource
Conservation Service staff to ascertain roles, responsibilities and potential additional leveraging
strategies has occurred. Habitat ranking criteria, habitat values, and preferred or necessary
conservation easement attributes have been determined. These attributes focus on protection of
water quality and associated riparian vegetation. The Division currently is entering into
negotiations with two willing landowners on Big Sandy and S. Rush Creeks.

For native cutthroat trout, a DOW design engineer has been assigned this project and has
completed pre-engineering, on-site inspection, and detailed surveys of the Big Sandy and S.

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