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<br />Navajo Reservoir Operations EIS <br />Plan of Approach <br /> <br />1. INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />This Plan of Approach (POA) outlines the process for completing an environmental impact <br />statement (EIS), pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, <br />for operations of the Navajo Unit in Colorado and New Mexico, hereafter referred to as Navajo <br />Reservoir Operations EIS or EIS, <br /> <br />More specifically, the EIS will describe the effects of operating the Navajo Reservoir to meet <br />the flow recommendations, or reasonable alternative, for the San Juan River below Farmington <br />provided by the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (Program), <br /> <br />This POA also includes a proposed time line for major activities, suggests a process for <br />resolution of policy issues (conflict resolution), for agency coordination, and for public input <br /> <br />A separate draft Statement of Work (SOW) has been developed to define the tasks to be <br />completed to prepare the EIS, <br /> <br />The POA and the SOW are meant to provide a source of guidance to managers and <br />participants in the NEP A process, and are subject to modification as may be appropriate, <br /> <br />The Proposed Federal Action <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamati9~~proposes to implement the flow <br />recommendations. or reasonable alternative to it. resulting from consultationj,mder the Endangered <br />Species Act (ESA), Reclamation would implement the proposed action by modifying the operations <br />decision criteria '&i'Navajo Dam to provide sufficient releases of water at times, quantities and <br />durations necessary to protect endangered fish and their designated critical habitat while maintaining <br />the authorized purposes of the Navajo Unit, Colorado River Storage Project <br /> <br />Purpose and Need <br /> <br />The purpose of the proposed action is to develop operating criteria for Navajo Dam and <br />Reservoir to create and maintain habitat and a healthy biological community in the San Juan River to <br />conserve populations and designated critical habitat of the two Colorado River endangered fishes, <br />the razorback sucker and the Colorado pikeminnow (fonnerly Colorado squawfish), while <br />maintaining the authorized purposes of the Navajo Unit <br /> <br />2 <br />