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. . - '. STATE OF COLORADO . Co.lorado Water Conservation Board Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman Street Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone' (lOll 866-3441 FAX: (303) 866-4474 MEMORANDUM Bill Qwens Go\ernor TO: Colorado Water Conservation Board Members ~) t:;? Peter Evans I ~ ~,..",,/' Director GregE. Walcher Executive Director. DNR Peter H. EV<lns Director, eWeB FROM: DATE: 22 November, 1999 RE: Agenda Item 20(g), November 22-23, 1999 Board Meeting-- Colorado River Issues, IS-MILE REACH ESA CONSULT AnON In March 1996, the Implementation Committee for the Recovery Program asked the participating interests to propose a means of reconciling the Fish and Wildlife Service's 1995 flow recommendations for the IS-Mile Reach with Colorado's 1995 development projection for the mainstem of the Colorado River above the IS-Mile Reach, After 3'h years, the FWS has proposed a draft "Programmatic Biological Opinion" (PBO)! that appears to do just that and comments are due November 30, 1999, In essence, the draft PBO represents a proposed FWS decision that Endangered Species Act requirements associated with our existing water supplies and development of up to 120,000 acre-feet of new supplies, can be satisfied by implementation of specific recovery actions by the Recovery Program, This may actually represent greater regulatory "certainty" than we wanted from the cooperative Recovery Program when it was proposed in the mid-1980s because the proposed PBO also addresses the "incidental take" requirements, The "federal action" that is the subject of this ESA Section 7 consultation includes continuation of all existing and authorized depletions within the defined geographic area, Reclamation's portion of the 120,000 acre-feet of new depletions and actions taken by the federal participants in the Recovery Program to fund and implement the Recovery Program's Recovery Action Plan ("RIPRAP"), In addition, however, the draft PBO gives full consideration to the "interrelated" continuation of all other existing (non-federal) depletions and the non-Reclamation portion of the 120,000 acre-feet of new water supplies, ] "Programmatic Biological Opinion for Bureau of Reclamation's Operations, Other Depletions, and Funding and Implementation of Recovery Program Actions in the Upper Colorado River Above the Confluence with the Gunnison River," draft dated October 25, 1999,