BOARD01632

• Board Meeting Date: 9/13/2004
• Description: ISF Section - Proposed Water Right Acquisition - Elkhead Reservoir Enlargement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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DRAFT ACQUISITION AGREEMENT
ELKHEAD RESERVOIR ENLARGEMENT
DRAFT 9/1/04

This Acquisition Agreement is entered into this day of , 2004, by and
among the United States of America, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
("Reclamation") and Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service"), both acting through the Secretary of
the Interior, pursuant to the Act to Authorize the Bureau ofRec1amation to Provide Cost Sharing
for the Endangered Fish Recovery Implementation Programs for the Upper Colorado and San
Juan River Basins, (October 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1602, Public Law 106-392 ), and acts
amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, the Colorado River Water Conservation District,
acting by and through its Colorado River Water Projects Enterprise ("River District") and the
State of Colorado, acting by and through the Colorado Water Conservation Board ("CWCB").

RECITALS

I. WHEREAS, the Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the
Upper Colorado River Basin ("Recovery Program") dated September 29, 1987 was
implemented by a Cooperative Agreement signed in January 1988 by the Secretary of the
Department ofthe Interior, the Governors of the States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming,
and the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration. The Recovery
Program is a coalition of agencies and organizations. The goal of the Recovery Program
is to recover four species of endangered fishes while allowing water development to
proceed consistent with state water law and in compliance with the Federal Endangered
Species Act ("ESA'') in the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; and

2. WHEREAS, section 2 of the Endangered Species Act, 16 USC, ~~1531 (c) (2), declares
that it is the policy of Congress for federal agencies to cooperate with state and local
agencies on water resource issues in concert with !=onservation of endangered species;
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is primarily charged with implementing the
Endangered Species Act and ensuring the protection and recovery of threatened and
endangered species; and

3. WHEREAS, pursuant to section 4(b)(2) of the ESA, on March 21,1994, the Service
designated certain reaches of the Yampa River as critical habitat for each of the four
endangered fish species. The largest of these reaches extends from the State Highway
394 bridge in Craig, Colorado downstream to the confluence of the Green River. For the
purposes of this Acquisition Agreement, this reach shall be described as extending from
the confluence ofElkhead Creek downstream to the confluence of the Green River and
shall be referred to as "the Critical Habitat Reach;" and

4. WHEREAS, the River District is a political subdivision of the State of Colorado created
and existing pursuant to its Organic Act ~~37-46-101, et seq, C.R.S., and other

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