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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />document. As a result of those meetings, the QSA parties will now take this document to their <br />respective Boaxd's prior to the next meeting to be held on August 25th. The intent is to determine if <br />an acceptable QSA from a Department of the Interior and the Colorado River Basin states perspective <br />can be dIafted and executed by the QSA parties. <br /> <br />Colorado River Environmental Aetivities <br /> <br />Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program <br /> <br />The LCRMSCP Technical Contractors (SAlC and JSA) axe preparing the administrative drafts <br />of the LCR MSCP Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and Biological Assessment (BA) to be released <br />for review and comment on August 21,2003. These documents incorporate all of the eomments and <br />modifications made to May 2003 preliminary dIaft HCP and BA. It is these versions of the HCP and <br />BA that will be utilized during the scheduled round of public scoping meetings to be held in the fall <br />of2003 in Yuma, Arizona; Blythe, California; and Laughlin, Nevada. Currently, it is anticipated that <br />these public scoping meetings will be held in late-Oetober or early-November of this year. <br /> <br />During late-July and early-August, LCR MSCP representatives met with the U.S. Fish and <br />Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Wildlife Refuges, Central Arizona Projeet Boaxd, Bureau of Land <br />Management Field Offiees in Yuma and Havasu, and the Fort Yuma-Quechan Indian Tribe. The <br />purposes of the meetings were to fully brief the agencies and the Tribe regarding the current status of <br />the LCR MSCP Conservation Strategy as well as to discuss current issues and their status and potential <br />partnership and cooperative opportunities. <br /> <br />LCR MSCP participants axe in the process of developing proposed federal legislation <br />authorizing implementation ofthe LCR MSCP, beginning in early-2005, and appropriating funds for <br />Program implementation. The dIalt legislative package is being developed by a small working group <br />of the LCR MSCP Implementation Issues Subcommittee. When a formal dIalt of the package is <br />available, I intend to convene a meeting of the California LCR MSCP Caucus to discuss the package <br />from California's perspective. <br /> <br />H.R. 2707 - Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act <br /> <br />Included in the Boaxd folder is a copy ofH.R. 2707 referred to as the "Salt Cedar and Russian <br />Olive Control Demonstration Act" introduced by Congressman Peaxce (NM) which would direct the <br />Secretaries of the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, acting through the U.S. Forest Service, <br />to carry out a demonstration program to assess potential water savings through control of salt cedar <br />and Russian olive on forests and public lands administered by Department of the Interior agencies and <br />the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service. <br /> <br />The proposed legislation directs the Department of the Interior to prepare an assessment of the <br />extent of salt cedar and Russian olive invasion in the seventeen Reclamation states where the species <br />occur and to identify management options for reducing the presence and spread of these non-native <br /> <br />8 <br />