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<br />PURPOSE 'LAW <br />Generation and Sale of Electric Power 1956 CRSP Act & the 1968 CREP Act <br />Fish and Wildlife Section 8 of the 1956 CRSP Act; 1965 <br /> Federal Water Project Recreation Act <br /> (P.L. 89-72); and the 1958 Fish and <br /> Wildlife Coordination Act (P.L. 85-624) <br /> & the 1968 CREP Act <br />Recreation 1965 Federal Water Project Recreation <br /> Act (P.L. 89-72) & the 1968 CREP Act <br />Improving Water Quality 1974 Colorado River Basin Salinity <br /> Control Act (P.L. 93-320 & the 1968 <br /> CREP Act <br />Tribal Water Rights Jicarilla Apache Tribe Water Rights <br /> Settlement Act of October 23, 1992 <br /> (P.L. 102-441) <br /> <br />Operations <br /> <br />After completion of the Navajo Unit in December 1963, the focus of the criteria for releasing <br />water from the dam was primarily on meeting irrigation needs, providing flood control, maintaining <br />stable flows. and providing a recreation pool in Navajo Reservoir. However, over the last decade, <br />the focus of the criteria and associated pattern for releasing water from the Navajo Unit has changed, <br />The effects that Navajo Reservoir operations have had on native endangered fishes and trout have <br />resulted in various commitments by Reclamation to evaluate operations and consider implementing <br />release rules to benefit endangered fish, in consideration of the effects on the trout fishery and other <br />downstream resources, <br /> <br />The catalyst for entering formal consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act <br />(ESA) for operations of Navajo Dam was the proposed construction of the Animas-La Plata Project <br />(ALP), On May 7, 1990, the U,5, Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a biological opinion <br />concluding that the ALP Project would jeopardize the continued existence of the Colorado <br />pike minnow, but no reasonable and prudent alternative (RPA) was identified at the time, New <br />hydrological investigations suggested that additional flexibility which existed in the operation of <br />Navajo Dam could help offset the negative impacts of constructing ALP, For example, reducing <br />releases during most months could make water available to increase spring peaks and return the San <br />Juan River to a more natural hydrograph that would mimic pre-dam historic flow conditions, This <br />flexibility in flow patterns would assist in developing a conservation measure for implementation of <br />ALP, and result in protecting the Colorado pikeminnow as ALP construction proceeded, <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />I' <br />