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<br />" <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Area Manager <br />DRAFT <br /> <br />36 <br /> <br />Federal Actions Throughout Subspecies Range. Since listing in 1995, at least 47 Federal <br />agency actions have undergone (or are currently under) formal section 7 consultation throughout <br />o' ,.. ~~ ~""""'."'" no__._ _.L~_n_ L____ ___..1.._.:.1 ~_ ~~..._..._A.. ...I......~;.......+;^....'" ~Ao:t.n" !:lIf"t;u;t;pc;: <br />Ul~ OlfO S rang~ tJ aOJt~ 'i). ,:)IA i1\;lIUJl~ Uc1V~ J.~':)UlLl,;.U ill J'-'VJ.1WUJ U\.lU.,.lu.auu.u..lv.u.... ..............J --... --.-"- <br />continue to adversely affect the distribution and extent of occupied and potential breeding habitat <br />throughout its range (development, grazing, recreation, dam operations, etc.). Stochastic events <br />also continue to adversely affect the distribution and extent of occupied and potential breeding <br />habitat. For example, a catastrophic fire in June of I 996, destroyed approximately one half mile <br />of occupied habitat on the San Pedro River in Pinal County. That fire resulted in the forced <br />dispersal or loss of up to eight pairs of flycatchers (Paxton et al. 1996). <br /> <br />Analysis of the Species/Critical Habitat Likely to be Affected <br /> <br />The proposed action would take place in occupied habitats for the flycatcher that are important <br />breeding and recovery habitat areas for the subspecies in relation to its rangewide distribution. <br />No critical habitat for the flycatcher is designated in the action area. Recovery of this species <br />will require these habitats to be able to support flycatchers at higher levels than are currently <br />present. <br /> <br />Environmental baseline <br /> <br />The environmental baseline includes the past and present impacts of all Federal, State, and <br />private actions and other human activities in the action area; the anticipated impacts of all <br />proposed Federal projects in the action area that have already undergone formal section 7 <br />consultation; and the impact of State or private actions contemporaneous with the consultation <br />process. All projects previously built or consulted on, and those State or private projects <br />presently being built or considered that deplete water from the San Juan River Basin are in the <br />environmental baseline for this proposed action. The baseline does not include the effects of the <br />action under review. <br /> <br />Although the San Juan River was once a relatively small portion of the overall range of these <br />species, the importance of these populations has increased with the extensive loss of habitat from <br />the lower Colorado Basin. In this section we discuss the status of the species in the action area <br />and factors affecting these species and their criti cal habitat including dams and their effects on <br />the riverine habitat, water quality, propagation programs for the species, water depletions, <br />diversion structures, and non-native species. <br /> <br />Status ofthe species within the action aea <br /> <br />Colorado pike minnow <br />Platania and Young (1989) sununarized historic fish collections in the San Juan River drainage <br />that indicate that pikeminnow once inhabited reaches above what is now the Navajo Dam and <br />Reservoir near Rosa, New Mexico. Because of Lake Powell and Navajo Reservoir, <br />approximately 161 km (100 mi) of San Juan Riverh{lbitat was directly lost for the two <br />endangered fishes (Holden 2000). Since closure of Navajo Dam in 1963, the accompanying fish <br /> <br />o (J H !, ~J <br />