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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />COLORADO IS A GROWING, DYNAMIC STATE <br />Colorado's strong economy, excellent business opportunities, and natural environment attract <br />new residents and development activities in large numbers every year. Between 1990 and 1999, <br />the state grew by 23.1 percent, from 3.29 million to 4.1 million residents. Such growth <br />established Colorado as the fifth fastest growing state in the nation this decade. Moreover this <br />trend shows no immediate signs of significantly slowing. The Colorado State Demographer's <br />Office project that by the year 2010,5 million people will call Colorado home. This represents <br />an increase of almost a million new residents over the state's 1999 population. <br /> <br />GROWTH STRAINS NATIVE SPECIES <br />While most (well over 90%) of Colorado native species are secure, a number of native plant and <br />animal species are sensitive to the effects of growth, especially when growth occurs in the <br />absence of knowledge about the species' needs. However, we also know that numerous species <br />are able to accommodate these effects when growth is accomplished with an eye to that species' <br />welfare. Minimizing unavoidable impacts and maximizing the probabilities of sustaining viable <br />populations in the face of growth is a goal of Colorado's wildlife natural resource programs, and <br />is reflected in the recommendations for expenditures from the Species Conservation Trust Fund <br />as listed below. <br /> <br />THE FEDERAL ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT IN COLORADO <br />Some of Colorado's native species have declined to the point where they could become extinct. <br />As a result, they have been added to the list of threatened and endangered species pursuant to the <br />federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA is the most powerful environmental protection <br />law in the world due to the extensive regulatory authority it confers upon the U. S. Fish and <br />Wildlife Service. Use of this authority has generated considerable controversy around the United <br />States, due to concerns that federal-level decisions would take private property without just <br />compensation or unacceptably limit state and local land use and natural resource management <br />rights and prerogatives. <br /> <br />Recognizing the importance of endangered species issues to Coloradans, Governor Owens issued <br />Executive Order DOl199 to create an Interdepartmental Management Team on Endangered <br />Species. Headquartered at the DNR, the Management Team will coordinate endangered species <br />issues with the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Public Health and Environment and <br />the Division of Wildlife so that the state can efficiently and effectively deal with these important <br />Issues. <br /> <br />The state will also enter into a new Memorandum of Agreement Concerning Management of <br />Colorado's Declining Native Species (MOA) with the United States Department of the Interior. <br />This MOA will serve to: (I) Commit federal and state agencies to use market-based and other <br />incentives to prevent the need to list species in the first place; and (2) Commit the U.S. Fish and <br />Wildlife Service to establish measurable recovery goals for species that are already listed. The <br />State of Colorado, in collaboration with local governments, private citizens, businesses, and <br />cornmunity groups, will work together to protect wildlife and plant species before ESA listing is <br /> <br />3 <br />