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------,-- . . Colorado Congressional Delegation/Maynes Page 2 May 4, 1990 consultation process (the "1979 Opinion"). (A copy of the 1979 Opinion is attached as Exhibit "B.") The 1979 Opinion, at page 5, concluded that the Project: . . . is not likely to jeopardize the Colorado squawfish as a species nor destroy habitat essential to their survival. During the time between the fish reclamation (in 1961) and the present, Colorado squawfish have not re-established their abundance in the San Juan Rivers as they did in the Green River, but do appear to have maintained a small, isolated population in the lower river. Although biological investigations in 1987-1989, "young-of-the-year" in the San Juan River, these affect the basis of the 1979 opinion that: discussed below, found investigations in no way . . . because of the apparent small size of the San Juan River squawfish population and its already tenuous hold on survival, its possible loss should have little impact on the successfully reproducing Green and Colorado River squawfish populations and therefore the species itself. The finding because the Juan River. of "young-of-the-year" cannot be considered new information, Service was aware in 1979 that spawning occurred in the San The 1979 Opinion, at page 4, stated: I n April 1978, a survey crew did locate a juvenile squawfish in the San Juan River, The size (170 mm) and locality of the specimens indicated it was spawned in the San Juan River, probably in 1975 or 1976. The biological evidence supporting the Service's Opinion remains unchanged in 1990. The population of Colorado squawfish in the San Juan River is still of "small size" and "isolated." The Colorado squawfish still have not "re-established their abundance." The loss of the Colorado "squawfish popu- lation" in the San Juan River still should have little impact on "the Green and Colorado River squawfish populations and therefore the species itself." Populations of Colorado squawfish in the Green and Colorado Rivers are many magnitudes larger than in the San Juan River. The Agency [Bureau] Review Draft of the Colorado Squawfish Recovery Plan, dated July 14, 1989, supports the conclusion that the Green and Colorado Rivers are the primary Colorado squawfish habitat and that any down-listing of the endangered species status of the Colorado squawfish can only occur in these two river systems. Biological investigations of the endangered fish population in the San Juan River conducted from 1987 through 1989 by the Bureau, the states of New