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<br />01)1952 <br /> <br />Status of Recoverv Actions by Program Element <br /> <br />1. In stream Flow Identification and Protection <br /> <br />Goal : To protect sufficient instream flows to support self-sustaining populations of the <br />endangered fishes. <br /> <br />Status: <br /> <br />. The final Management Planfor Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin <br />and Environmental Assessment were completed and sent out for printing and <br />binding this month. The Service is preparing a Finding of No Significant <br />Impact (FONS!) to accompany these documents when they are distributed to <br />Committee members and interested parties at the end of September. Copies <br />will be distributed at the Yampa River Basin Partnership annual meeting on <br />September 29. These documents also will be available on our website at <br />http://w.N\v.1.6.fws.gov/crrip/vampa.htm. <br /> <br />. The project to expand Elkhead Reservoir should be out to bid this fall and early <br />winter, with construction beginning in early CY 2005 and finishing in CY <br />2006. The reservoir should fill with water during spring 2007 and be available <br />for instream flow augmentation that summer. The Colorado River Water <br />Conservation District has worked diligently with URS, its engineering <br />consultants, to refine the engineering design and reduce costs - on the order of <br />$1 M. Therefore, despite dramatic increases to fuel costs and steel prices, the <br />project is still under budget. The River District submitled a 404 permit <br />application to the Corps of Engineers in May 2004. Action on the application is <br />still pending. With the imminent completion ofa FONS! on the Yampa Plan, <br />we expect that the Corps of Engineers will be in a position to make a permit <br />decision after meeting its own NEP A and ESA obligations. <br /> <br />. A draft programmatic biological opinion (PBO) for the management plan was <br />completed earlier this month and posted to the Recovery Program website at <br />htln://www.r6.fws.gov/crrip/yamoaPBO.htm. Program participants were <br />offered an initial comment period that closed on September 15. However, we <br />received several requests to extend the comment period, and the Service agreed <br />to extend it until September 30. We expect that a final PBO will be completed <br />in late October or early November. <br /> <br />. The Phase II report on development of a model to explore structural and <br />operational measures to increase water temperature in the GUtUlison River <br />downstream from Delta was submitted for peer and Biology Commitlee review <br />in September 2004 following revisions by the Instream Flow Coordinator and <br />Principal Investigator. <br /> <br />. On September 10,2004, the Bureau of Reclamation published a Notice of <br />Availability for the draft EIS for Flaming Gorge Dam (69 FR 54799). The <br /> <br />5 <br />