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implementing actions to meet the environmental needs of the endangered fish species, Ongoing and proposed activities under the SJRBIP include re-regulation of flows from Navajo Dam to better meet species needs, control of non-native fishes, propagation of target species, and identification and removal of fish-passage barriers, Flow Recommendations Under the direction of the SJRBRJP's Biology Committee, test releases were conducted and evaluated during 1992- I 998, At the completion of the research period, the Biology Committee completed a report, Flow Recommendations for the San Juan River (1999), which provides recommended flows for the endangered fishes in the San Juan River below Farmington, New Mexico, The recommendations define the conditions for mimicking a natural hydrograph in tenns of magnitude, duration, and frequency of flows in the San Juan River, This EIS is on the impacts of developing and implementing release rules for Navajo Reservoir to assist in meeting the Biology Committee's flow recommendations for the San Juan River below Farmington, A NEPA process was not completed for development of the flow recommendations for the reason there was no proposed Federal action with potential significant impacts to the human environment associated with simply developing recommendations, Reclamation considers the action of developing flow recommendations to be categorically excluded from further NEP A compliance in accordance with Part 516, Chapter 2, Appendix 1 ofInterior's Departmental Manual, specifically action 1,10, which reads as follows: Policies, directives, regulations and guidelines of an administrative, financial, legal, technical or procedural nature; or the environmental effects of which are too broad, speculati ve or conjectural to lend themselves to meaningful analysis and will be subject later to the NEP A process, either collectively or case-by-case, These recommendations have been accepted by the SJRBRJP Coordination Committee and have been provided to the Service for it's use in future Section 7 consultations, It is the position of the SJRBRJP that these flows are necessary to avoid jeopardizing the continued existence of the endangered fish, If the Service chooses to include these recommendations as part ofa reasonable and prudent alternative for proposed projects in the basin, then the flow criteria would have to be met to avoid a jeopardy finding for endangered fish associated with that project. Also included in the flow recommendation report are suggested operating rules for several levels of development in the basin, Applying these rules allows water development to proceed and average annual depletion in the basin to increase above the level set in the 1991 opinion (642,100 acre-feet measured at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) gaging station on the San Juan River at Four Comers, New Mexico), These operating procedures are simply recommendations, Any operating procedure that would allow the flow requirements for the fish to be met would be acceptable, However, before new operating rules could be approved, their ability to produce the required flows would have to be demonstrated, Presently, demonstrating the ability to meet the Draft May 15,2000 6 Plan of Approach for Navajo Dam Operations EIS r'';'''()Q .1 .'_0_'.