BOARD02567

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2001
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

MSCP: In the Lower Basin we are now embarked upon the multiple species conservation plan (MSCP). This is still a
work in progress. Nevertheless, there is every reason to be optimistic about our prospects for success. In the last 5 years
we have completed scores of habitat conservation plans, including some - such as those in San Diego, Orange, and
Riverside counties - of very considerable scope and complexity. Once in place, the MSCP will produce important
benefits. The goal is to develop aquatic and terrestrial habitat along the lower Colorado River that will move several
listed species toward recovery, and prevent other species from having to be listed, while allowing continued use of the
river for water supply and power generation.

The current schedule calls for a plan to be completed by April, 2002, and while many controversial issues remain to be
resolved - among them establishing a formula for cost-sharing, obtaining sufficient water to support the development of
new habitat, and providing appropriate assurances about future compliance - I am confident that the plan is on the right
track and will timely come to fruition. To be sure that the MSCP is done, and done right, I want again to urge our
colleagues in the environmental community to re-join us in this vital effort.

The Upper Basin Recovery Plan: The restoration of endangered fish populations in the Upper Basin is an ongoing.
success story. On October 30th, President Clinton signed legislation setting in place long-term funding based on cost
sharing for the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Recovery Implementation Programs. The four upper division states
have approved the cost share proposal. Public Law 106-392 authorizes and provides funding for continued
implementation of the endangered fish recovery programs in the Upper Colorado and San Juan basins. The legislation
emerged from a process in which the states committed to providing a portion of the funding, and in which both dollar and
time limits were set for the program. As an example, ofthe $100 million authorized for capital projects, 46% will be paid
from federal funds, 17% in state contributions, 17% in power revenues, and 20% through a credit to the state of Colorado
for contributing water and credit to power users for purchasing power to replace lost generation as a result of operational
restrictions at Flaming Gorge Dam.

I mention this because, as a successful cooperative environmental recovery program, it could provide a pattern for both
funding and collaboration on the MSCP in the Lower Basin. The Upper Basin Recovery Implementation Plan, begun in
1988, brings together not only the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, but water development interests, hydropower
interests, and environmental organizations such as Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy, as well as a
coalition offederal agencies including the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife
Service.

The Endangered Species Act is of course an important agent of change in river management but this remarkable law _
which responds to a deep cultural and ethical command - has done far more good than harm in the cause of sensible water
management. We have found ways to meet its requirements successfully, and it deserves our continued support.

The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program is finally becoming another environmental success story. In 1994
the Bureau of Reclamation completely restructured this program to invite competitive bids for the most cost-effective
programs to reduce salt loading in the river system. The result is a paradigm of federal, state, and private partnership that
has generated 23 projects in the basin. It is a model of cost effectiveness, and has driven salinity control expenses down
from $80 to $30 a ton.

In coming years we will find many more innovative ways to further the task of river restoration.

Our science-based Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program is an important demonstration of such possibilities.
From these studies, carried on over a ten year period under the leadership of the USGS and the Bureau of Reclamation,
we successfully demonstrated, in the widely publicized flood release in March of 1996, how river regulation can rebuild
and restore beach habitat downstream.

The Delta: On May 18th of this year, Secretary Carabias of Mexico's Secretariat of Environment, Natural Resources and
Fisheries, and I, issued a joint declaration pledging to work together "To strengthen cooperative action and mechanisms
to improve and conserve the natural and cultural resources of the Colorado River Delta." Following up on that
declaration, we held a day-long session in Washington in October to bring together Colorado River stakeholders in the
United States to begin looking at possible approaches to Delta needs.

Just this week, on December 12th, the United States and Mexican sections ofthe International Boundary and Water
Commission signed a Conceptual Minute to the 1944 Water Treaty Concerning the Colorado River and Its Associated
Delta. This Conceptual Minute will provide a framework for binational cooperation - including all stakeholders on both

38