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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988 (Act)' to facilitate and implement the settlement of the Ute Indian Tribes reserved water rights claims. The Act expressly looked to the completion of the ALP and the nearby Dolores Project to store and deliver water necessary to a final settlement of the Indian reserved water rights claims. The Dolores Project is largely completed and ALP is nearing completion of pre-construction environmental compliance. In 1991, a Biological Opinion was filed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that indicated that the full development of ALP would jeopardize the continued existence of the Colorado squawfish. Through a cooperative effort between Indian and non-Indian water users in the San Juan Basin, a research plan was developed which provided for a project that ALP would initially enjoy a reduced level of depletion as a Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA). At the end of a seven-year study period, it would be determined whether recovery efforts would permit further depletions and if not, how the restrictions on depletions will be equitably shared by basin users.. In 1992, a San Juan River Recovery Implementation program was initiated with goals directed at the recovery of the endangered fish in the San Juan River, while providing for the continuation of the legislatively-mandated water development in the basin. The U.s. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is currently developing a Supplemental Environmental Statement and other studies to address the issues and information which have arisen since the completion of the original environmental impact statement. The completion of these studies and the SFEIS and approval by the Secretary of a Record of Decision will allow construction to begin on that portion of the Project the RP A established in the final Biological Opinion. The cost sharing agreement for ALP developed by the Project sponsors and approved by the Secretary of the Interior prior to Congress' 1988 enactment of the Colorado Ute Water Settlement Act has divided the construction of the Project into two phases. Phase I would be constructed with federal and non-federal cost-sharing sources. Phase II would be constructed and funded entirely by non-federal cost-sharing sources. Upon the completion of the current Reclamation studies, construction will be initiated on three of the Project , Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988, P.L. 1()()-585 (102 stat. 2973). 1-3