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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Page 8 <br /> <br />All of these items have been accomplished to date, except that there has <br />been one additional step as a result of the U. S, Fish and Wildlife Service <br />finding an endangered species, the Colorado Squaw Fish on the San Juan River, <br />'Ibis is the only remaining o1:stacle to the construction of the Animas-La Plata <br />Proj ect. <br />'Ihe U, S, Fish and Wildlife Service had originally issued. a non-jeopardy <br />opinion in 1979; however, further study has found twenty-seven squaw fish and <br />a jeopcu:dy opinion was issued. on May 5. 1990. In effect. this has stopped all <br />development on the San Juan River in Colorado and New Mexico. <br />Several meetings have been held and it appears that, there may be a <br />resolution of the problem which would allow for construction to begin on the <br />Animas-La Plata Project while studying the fish habitat for pw:poses of <br />developing a squaw fish recovery pmgram. Officials in Colorado are <br />cautiously optimistic that a solution can be found. <br />To recap or sununarize, the Colorado ute Indian Settlement Agreement was <br />accomplished because: <br />- the water users in Southwest Colorado and the ute lOOian Tribes <br />recognized the need to res 01 ve the problem without causing <br />communi. ty conflict; <br />- a unified front was reached between the tribes and the States and <br />then the federal government was negotiated with; <br />- the elected Tribal officials and State officials provided strong <br />leadership on state and national levels; <br />- local water officials were able to resolve stream quantification <br />problems; <br />- cooperation had to be obtained from other basin states; <br />