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M~4~2 ( l ( ( ( ( ( ( l The RIPRAP outlines specific recovery actions, including such measures as acquiring and managing aquatic habitat and water, re-operating existing reservoirs to provide instream flows for fishes, eonstructing fish passage facilities, controlling nonnative fishes, and propagating and stocking listed fish species. It also stipulates which entity is responsible for taking action, when these actions would be undertaken. and how they would be funded, The RIPRAP has been reviewed and updated annually since 1993. One RIPRAP element, under the FY 2002 Green River Action Plan: Yampa and Little Snake Rivers, subsection LA.2., is to develop a management plan for the Recovery Program in the Yampa Basin. This element calls for: (1) developing and implementing a public involvement plan for the Basin (ongoing), (2) updating estimates of human water needs in the Basin (completed 1998), (3) estimating the low-flow needs of fishes and identifying impediments to fish passage on the Yampa River below Craig (completed 1999), (4) carrying out hydrologic analyses to identify and evaluate flow augmentation needs and strategies (ongoing), (5) installing, operating and maintaining stream gages (ongoing), and (6) developing and implementing an aquatic management plan to reduce nonnative fish impacts, while providing sport fishing opportunities (approved in 1998 and initiated in 1999). In this context, the purpose of this Yampa River Management Plan is to promote recovery of four listed endangered fish species as water is depleted from the river to serve projected human needs in the Yampa River Basin through the year 2045. This plan is intended to promote the recovery of these species by supporting and facilitating needed management actions specifically identified in the recovery goals. This plan provides a synoptic summary of current and anticipated future depletions, identifies management actions believed necessary to recover the listed fishes in consideration ofthese depletions and other environmental stressors, and describes specific recovery actions to be taken under this plan and criteria by which to measure their success. This plan also is needed to address the impacts of activities not covered under existing biological opinions pursuant to Section 7 of the ESA, including non-federal actions which required no federal authorization or funding and for which no habitat conservation plans were developed pursuant to ESA Section 10, It also covers federal actions (i,e., authorization and/or funding) prior to enactment of the ESA and, therefore, not subject to any prior Section 7 consultation. To this end, this plan incorporates measures to identify, quantify and, if necessary, minimize incidental take due to water diversions, as well as state-managed recreational fisheries, in the Yampa Basin. It addresses the impacts of existing projects that currently deplete water from the Yampa River but for which no consultation had been initiated to date, and projects whose depletions fall within a defined increment of future depletions, as well as other potential impacts to the endangered fishes, including take. Settioe The Yampa River Basin covers roughly 8,000 square miles, or 7% of the Upper Colorado River Basin (108,000 square miles), in northwest Colorado and south central Wyoming (Figure I). Headwater tributaries of the Yampa River arise along the Continental Divide and the White River Plateau above 11,000 feet elevation, descending more than 6,000 feet to its confluence with the Green River near the Colorado-Utah state line. The Yampa River contributes about the same average annual water volume as the Green River above its confluence with the Yampa. Flaming Gorge Dam, located on the Green River about 65 rivenniIes (RM) upstream from the Yampa River confluence, impounds a 3.8-MAF reservoir, reducing peak flows and elevating base flows in the Green River downstream from the dam. l ( ( ( ( Management Plan for Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin 3