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., 002562 . . ~, The Advisory Group for the Colorado River Delta met on November 7"', The relationship between the activities being conducted by Work Group 4 and those activities of Advisory Group was discussed, As was discussed during the meeting, Work Group 5 has been in existence for a number of years with its primary rnission to develop a river model for the reach of the Colorado River below Morelos Dam, to develop a bibliography of information regarding the Delta, and to implement a pilot restoration project. The Advisory Group was established in response to Minute 306 of the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty to allow IBWC to deal with technical issues related to the Delta and make recommendations to the IBWC for its consideration, During the meeting the United States Section of IBWC presented a draft of the Terms of Reference for the conduct of the Advisory Group, It was Mexico's suggestion that Work Group 4 and the Advisory Group be combined, as the activities of each of those groups involve the same people, This suggestion is being considered by the United States Section ofIBWC and Reclamation, Prior to the next meeting, which is scheduled to be held on February 251h, Mexico will review the Terms of Reference; each country will develop a list of priority activities to be investigated; and each country will share a list ofrepresentatives to be on the Advisory Group. In addition, the United States will indicate its receptiveness to combining Work Group 4 and the Advisory Group into one group, Colorado River Environmental Activities Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program As mentioned at last month's meeting, the U ,S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is in the process of providing a Washington Office and Regional Office review of the administrative draft Biological Assessment and Habitat Conservation Plan. Additionally, Reclamation's Washington Office staff are reviewing both docwnents as well, These reviews are scheduled to be completed in mid-December 2003, At that point the docwnents will be revised based upon the comments of the USFWS and Reclamation, and then released for public review and comment in the spring of2004, On November 4,5, and 6, representatives of the LCR MSCP Steering Committee conducted an additional round of public information and scoping meetings in communities within the planning area along the Lower Colorado River. The meetings were held in Yuma, Arizona; Blythe, California; and Laughlin. Nevada, The purposes of the information and scoping meetings were to provide an up-to-date status of the LCR MSCP and to solicit additional issues from the general public for potential review and analysis in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Environmental Impact Review (EIR) documents, The LCR MSCP representatives presented a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation and then opened the meeting to public comments and questio~s, The public comments were recorded for the record by a court reporter at each of the meetings, The public was invited to review a series of enlarged posters describing the various elements of the LCR MSCP, Handout materials and comment forms were available for interested parties to take home and review, 5 f ~)