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FACT SHEET Recovery Program for Endangered Ash of the Upper Colorado River Basin Budget Over the Recovery Program's projected 15-year period, the budget is expected to total about $60 milliolL The money is to come from the following soun:es: - An operating budget of at least $2.5 million ($2.7 million for fiscal year 1991) is contributed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife SeIVice: the stales of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming; fimds from Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act; and water development groups. (See pie charts on funding soun:es and expenses.) - A one-time Congressional appropriation of$15 million will be requested: a minimum of $10 million to acquire water rights and maintain adequate in-stream flows for the fish and $5 million for capital construction projects. - Water development depletion fees and contributions are estimated to provide up to $10 million over 15 years. Program Elements Habitat management: Recovery Program fimds will be used to identify and acquire adequate in-stream flows for the fish in accordance with state water laws and interstate compacts. Funds also will go toward refming operation of federal dams to meet the in- stream flow needs of the fish. Habitat development: Researchers will make recommendations on creating, protecting and improving habitat for the fish. Projects may include creating spawning and nursery habitat, developing grow-out ponds and constructing fish passageways. Stocking native fish: Researchers are developing ways to identify and maintain specific genetic stocks of native fish, studying the suIVival of hatchery fish stocked in the wild and evaluating the feasibility of constructing a hatchery to raise endangered fish. They are also refining techniques for raising Colorado squawfish in hatcheries and are spawning wild razort>ack suckers to be reintroduced to the wild and/or used in research studies. Non-native species and sport-fishing: Biologists are monitoring sizes of native and non-native fish populations and are studying competition between the two. Stocking of non-native fish has been limited to areas where there appears to be no conflict with the four rare native fish. Information is being distributed to the public to reduce accidental taking of the fish by anglers. Research, monitoring and data management: Biologists are conducting a variety of studies to determine the best means of recovering the fish. The research involves mOnitoring long-term populations trends, making recommendations on river flows, evaluating genetic differences between fish populations from different river systems, developing recommendations for facilities to hold rare fish in protective "refugia," evaluating behavioral differences in hatchery and wild fish and establishing adult brOOd stock for Colorado squawfish and ra7.OIback suckers. Data from all studies are being compiled in a centtalized computer database.