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<br />.' "'. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />conqressional or federal agency intervention. <br /> <br />Finally, it should be noted that endangered ~pecies issues are <br />being aggressively addressed in both the Upper and Lower Basins <br />through, respectively, the Upper Colorado River and San Juan <br />Basin Endangered Fish Recovery Programs, and a proposed Habitat <br />Conservation Plan in the Lower Basin. The Upper Colorado River <br />Endangered Fish Recovery Program has been underway since 1988 and <br />has been pursued successfully within the Law of the River Both <br />these efforts are being pursued within the Framework of the Law <br />of the River. Continued funding and support for these programs <br />is essential. <br /> <br />These neqotiations reflect the important fact that prOblems can <br />be approached best from within the certainty provided by the Law <br />of the River. The Law of the River has evolved over more than <br />seventy years in response to the need to create a stable and <br />predictable institutional foundation upon which major investments <br />in the River can rest. This certainty is as necessary now, when <br />we discuss important issues such as water banks or endangered <br />species recovery, as it was thirty or forty years ago, when the <br />topics of discussion centered on major infrastructure <br />development. <br /> <br />In conclusion, I cannot stress more st=ongly, that the way to <br />address the emerging issues in the Lower Basin -- the ostensible <br />focus of these hearings -- lies not with adjusting or alte=ing <br />the seventy years of law, regulation, court decrees, and <br />procedures constituting the Law of the River. Rather, the means <br />to approach these issues lies in reaffirming the Law of the <br />River, and in supporting the Basin States and tribes in their <br />respective efforts to resolve the issues that will define the <br />management of the Colorado River for decades to come. <br /> <br />7 <br /> <br />OOU~07 <br />