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<br />. <br /> <br />Key Points <br />Upper Colorado River and San Juan River Endangered Fish Recovery Program <br />Long-term Funding Legislation <br /> <br />The bill authorizes appropriations for completing the capital construction portions of two <br />intergovernmental programs: the 1988 Cooperative Agreement to implement the Recovery <br />Implementation Program for the Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River dated September <br />29, 1987; and the 1992 Cooperative Agreement to implement the San Juan River Recovery <br />Implementation Program dated October 21, 1992. <br /> <br />The bill authorizes the Upper Colorado River Recovery Program at $82 million through the year 2005; <br />and the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program at $18 million through the year 2007. <br /> <br />Under the proposed legislation, the Federal Government would pay $46 million toward the cost of <br />completing capital projects. Using funding from the four participating states and money generated from <br />the sale of hydroelectric power from the Colorado River Storage Project, non-federal parties will pay the <br />remaining $54 million. <br /> <br />The capital construction program includes facilities for the genetic conservation and propagation of the <br />endangered fish species, for the restoration of floodplain habitat and fish passage, for regulation and/or <br />supply of instream habitat flows, for preventing fish entrapment in canals and for the removal or <br />translocation of non-native fishes. <br /> <br />".". <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The Upper Colorado River Program has provided the reasonable and prudent alternative to avoid <br />"jeopardy" Endangered Species Act Section 7 biological opinions for 204 water projects. These projects <br />have an aggregate capability to deplete more than 693,000 acre-feet of water per year (about 544,000 <br />acre-feet were historic or" pre-Program projects that required ESA consultation). <br /> <br />The San Juan Program, along with the re-operation of Navajo Reservoir, provides the reasonable and <br />prudent alternative for approximately 700,000 acre-feet of preexisting depletions and 51,700 acre-feet of <br />depletions by the Animas-La Plata Project. Continued funding will allow recovery of the fish and <br />provide the reasonable and prudent alternative for new depletions, including tribal depletions, in the San <br />Juan River Basin. <br /> <br />These recovery programs represent the best opportunity for recovery of these four species of native fish. <br />None of the program participants can independently accomplish the Programs' measures; rather they are <br />engaged in a consensus decision-based, collaborative partnership that has produced substantive results. <br /> <br />The dual objectives of achieving species recovery while allowing water development to proceed has <br />created strong, supportive and vested interest on the part of the Programs' participants. The continued <br />issuance of permits and the recovery of the fish and their habitat are dependent on the Programs' <br />continued progress. . .'. <br /> <br />The bill does not amend the federal Endangered Species Act. Most of the amendments to the Act that <br />have been considered by Congress contemplate changes in how a species is listed, what constitutes the <br />taking and harassment of a species, or the Act's consultation provisions. None of the proposed <br />amendments eliminate the need for these recovery programs. In fact, most proposed amendments put <br />. even greater emphasis on local efforts to protect threatened and endangered species. <br />