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. . 2. Do not designate critical habitat where existing management or protection measures adequately conserve essential habitat and those measures are likely to continue for the foreseeable future (e.g., state and national parks, refuges, national forests, etc.); 3. Designate unoccupied habitat only when there is not enough occupied habitat available for the species; 4. Areas covered under existing HCPs, or pending HCPs, sbould generally be excluded from designation as critical habitat; 5. When considering state or tribal lands, defer to the states or tribes on a voluntary partnership basis in the assessment of management and protection measures in the absence of contrary evidence; and 6. Working with landowners, local, state, and tribal governments on a voluntary partnership basis often provides conservation benefits superior to the designation of critical habitat. The USFWS is in the process of developing a policy- and technical-level guidebook, or handbook, to be utilized by USFWS personnel in designating critical habitat. The handbook is being reviewed by field personnel and should become available for public review and comment in 2005. Senate Bil/1516 - Salt Cedar & Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act Over the past few months we have discussed Senate Bill 1516, the Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act. You may recall that this piece of legislation sets up a program to initiate a series of pilot projects, to be administered by Reclamation, to control non-native salt cedar and Russian olive along many of the river systems and stream course in the American West. On May 19, 2004, SB 15] 6 passed the Senate, and authorized appropriations of $20 million for FY-2005, and $15 million for each subsequent year. These funds are to be used to prepare an assessment of infestation of salt cedar and Russian olive, identify feasible control measures, and implement several demonstration projects to remove and control this non-native vegetation. A key feature of the legislation ensures that on lands where salt cedar and Russian olive are controlled and removed that native riparian vegetation will be restored and maintained, and that the dead non-native biomass will be removed. I have included a copy of the final legislation for your information. Lower Colorado Water Supply Proiect (LCWSPI The City of Needles (Needles) is continuing to execute subcontracts with the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project (project) beneficiaries to receive Project water. As of June 8th, over 474_subcontracts in the amount of3,237 acre-feet of water per year for current and for future use have been forwarded to potential applicants for execution (479 for current use and 2,758 for future use). To date, 344 or 72.6 percent, of the subcontracts have been executed and returned to Needles. 10