BOARD01693

• Board Meeting Date: 7/26/1999
• Description: Colorado River Basin Issues - 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 ofIndian 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 under
interstate water compacts. The programs have also allowed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife