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<br />., <br /> <br />I;'~ <br /> <br />c V' <br />.cY <br /> <br />Biologists say project <br />will push fish to limit <br /> <br />If the water project known as Ani- <br />mas-La Plata Lite is buill, endangered <br />fish could not tolerate <br />any additional water <br />development in the San <br />Juan River Basin, fish <br />biologists warn. <br />The numbers report- <br />ed Friday at a water <br />seminar in Durango <br />could hinder if not halt <br />development of water <br />rights held by the Na- <br />vajo Nation and others <br />in the basin, said Steve <br />Harris, president of the <br />Animas-La Plata Wa. <br />ter Conservancy Dis- <br />trict. But first the re- <br />search must withstand <br />outside scientiflc scru- <br />tiny and the onslaught <br />of criticism expected <br />from water develop. <br />ment interests. . <br />The flsh biologists <br />and other scientists of <br />the San Juan River Re- <br />covery Implementa- <br />tion Pr~gram. last .f'(:.,C' <br />week released their draft numbers on ghining of the decade when Fish.. and <br />how low the San .Juan can go before Wildlife issued an opinion saying the <br />jeopardizing survival of the endangered project would place the fish in jeopardy. <br />Colorado squawfish and razorback ., 'Then, a bevy of agencies, including <br />sucker. The findings came after seven ..Fish aod Wildlife. and the would-be <br />years of study of an ecosystem altered . bullder of Animas-La Plata, the Bureau <br />decades ago by the construction of Na- of Reclamation, formulated "a 'reason- <br />vajo Dam at one end and Glen Canyon able and prudent alternative" to elimi- <br />Dam at the other. . . nating either the project or the fish. <br />Thus was born the San Juan River Re- <br />covery and Implementation Program, <br />with its dual mission of protecting rare <br />native fish and allowing limited water <br />development to proceed. <br />The cap then set on that water devel- <br />opment was a 51,700-acre-foot deple- <br />tion of the Animas River, a tributary of <br />the San Juan. And officials planned to <br />release water from the Navajo Dam <br />reservoir in southern Colorado and <br />northern New Mexico to augment San <br />Juan River flows when needed to bene- <br />fit the rare native fish. <br />The fish, biologists say, need Qlows <br />that would mimic natural or pre-dam <br />flows - a variety of highs and lows, in- <br />cluding a great, flushing stream of <br /> <br />By Electa Draper <br />Denver Post Slaff Writer <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />A long way to go <br /> <br />vive the bloodletting arena of water-de- <br />velopment politics, the biologists say. <br />The San Juan River's two endangered <br />fish species had enough clout to freeze <br />Animas-La Plata in its tracks at the be- <br /> <br />melting snow in spring. <br />High flows recarve the river channel, <br />creating pools, backwaters and eddies <br />that serve as nurseries for native fish. <br />High flows scour the riverbed and make ' <br />clean, loose cobble <br />good for spawning. <br />But Harris and other <br />critics of the biologists' <br />work say that too much <br />information is missing <br />about critical life <br />stages of the endanger- <br />" ed fish because there <br />N.M. " . weren't enough fish left <br />h in the river to study. i <br />Biologists in the past I . <br />few years resorted to i /' <br />stocking endangered r <br />species raised in hatch- <br />eries, but even they ad- ,. <br />. mit they have gaps in <br />the data. t <br />The latest incaroa- 1 <br />tion of the long-plan- I <br />ned Animas-La Plata, I <br />now one-third its origl~, . <br />. nal size, theoretically. <br />. would accommodate <br />the fish because it <br />would deplete only. <br />TheeenYOr_ 57100 acre-feet of wa- <br />ter ~',year from th~ Animas River at.a <br />diversion point just .south of Durango.. <br />The water then would be pumped over a <br />hill into Ridges Basin Reservoir just 2 <br />miles south of town. . I <br />The project would benefit the two <br />Colorado Ute tribes and communities I <br />such as Durango and Farmington, N.M. ! <br /> <br />Perhaps the last hurrah I <br /> <br />If the scientists' preliminary recom. C <br />mendations for San Juan flows stand, A-! <br />LP Lite would be the last hurrah of wa- <br />ter development in the basin. The num- <br />bers now show that river depletions, <br />above 59,000 acre-feet would make it : <br />difficult to guarantee the types and fre- I <br />quencies .of flows needed to sculpt en- . <br />dangered fish habitat, said San Juan; <br />program biology committee chairman , <br />Ron Bliesner, an agricultural engineer. i <br />However, there are projects in the : <br />planning, Including completion of the! <br />Navajo Indian Irrigation Pro~ct, that <br />would take more than 200,000 acre-feet : <br /> <br />Please see WATER on 68 ! <br /> <br />Proiect area of Animas. La Plata <br />The Animas-La Plata project was modified in order to protect endangered fish <br />in the San Juan River Basin. <br /> <br /> <br />Harris said he is highly skeptical that <br />biological data exist to justify the draft <br />findings made by the San Juan pro- <br />gram's biology committee. <br />The committee's dozen or so re- <br />searchers represent four states, three <br />tribes and half a dozen federal agencies. <br />They are scheduled to meet again in <br />late May to make final recommenda- <br />tions. Then, the committee's recom- <br />mended dam releases and river flows <br />would have to pass muster with;the pro- <br />gram's coordination committee and the <br />U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The rec- <br />ommendations also would have to sur- <br /> <br />Coto. <br /> <br />Southern Ute .' <br />Indian Reservation <br /> <br />/ <br />/ <br />