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002~38 gram IS Its ability to provide the "reasonable and prudent alternative" for section 7 consul. tation purposes. If the recovery program results in far greater benefits to the endangered fish than mitigation measures that merelyoffser site- specific impacts, it will be reasonable and pru. dent for the FWS to rely upon it as an alternative that avoids jeopardy. However, the research and recovery activities must demonstrate "suffi- cient progress" in overcoming institutional bar- riers, improving and protecting habitat and, eventually, providing self.sustaining popula. tions to justify continued reliance upon the reo covery program while watcr development continues. Based upon the accomplishments of the recovery program since 1988, fWS has con- sulted on over eighty new water development projects, and written section 7 biological opin. ions allowing them to proceed with a potential depletion of over 165,000 acre.feet. Another of the imponant fundamentals of this partnership is that every recovery program action requires consensus among the panicipam.s. This re- quirement has created some fnlstration and has slowed progress in some respects, but it also assures that each panicipant remains sensitive to and respectful of the needs and circum. stances of other recovery program participants. One of the benefits of the recovery program's consensus decision making requirement is that funding requests to Congress have been actively supported by all recovery program participants. By including the states, the water development and environmental imerestS in the planning and decisionmaking process, and by providing the reasonable and prudent alternative for section 7 consultations, the recovery program harnesses additional strength in the political and financial arenas for the benefit of the endangered spe. cies. Recovety program expenses have been al- located among federal, state and private interests in this partnership, including a one.time deple- tion charge paid by water project proponents. Recovery program expenses have been approx- imately S3 million per year since 1988, but are expected to increase significantly (approxi. mately S5 million in fiscal 1995 and S9 million in fiscal year 1996). These increased cost esti. mates reflect the transition from an initial re- search phase into a period when flow protection, habitat protection, construction of facilities, and other management activities will be imple- mented. Over the full term of the recovery pro. gram, which is now expected to require fifteen years, the total cost may be between S80 mil- lion and H20 million. Present Status of Endangered Fish Preliminary evidence suggests that popu. lations of the Colorado squawfish in the Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir may'be improving as a result of experimental reopera- tion of the reservoir. Elsewhere, Colorado squawfish populations appear to be small but stable. except in the mainstream of the Colo. rado River where they may still be declining. Populations of the humpback chub appear to be relatively large and healthy in the Colo- rado River near the Utah.Colorado state line. In the Green and Yampa Rivers, the humpback chub populations appear to be small but stable. The razorback sucker may be nearing ex. tinction in the wild. Most razorbacks captUted in recent years are thought to be more than twenty years old, and there is great concern over the "recruitment" of young fish into the adult populations. In the Upper Basin, the bonytail chub may already be extinct in the wild. The last con- firmed sighting was in 1981 in the Colorado River near the Colorado.Utah stateline. Small captive populations still exist and are being protected by FWS. There is also a population of bonytail chub in the Lower Basin at Lake Mo- jave. Is the Partnership Making "Sufficient Progress? The 1987 Finding of No Significant Impact on the recovery program concluded that the greatest difference between endorsing the pro- gram and continuing business as it had been conducted will occur in the area of habitat man- agement actions. Finding of No Significant Im- pact for a Secretariat Decision to Approve Department of tbe Interior Participation in a Recovery Implementation Program for En. dangered Fisb Species in tbe Upper Colorado River Basin, dated November 13, 1987 and signed by Regional Director Galen Buterbaugh, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Denver, Colo- rado. This is because the recovery program would enlist the states, with their legal author. ity over land use and water resource manage- ment, in the endangered species recovery efforts. One failure of the traditional, regulatory approach to section 7 consultations has been that fWS' options have been limited to either requiring "offsetting" conservation measures (i.e., preserving an undesirable status quo in which the species' prospect for survival re- mains tenuous) or forcing a confrontation by declaring there is no "reasonable and ptudent alternative" which allows development to pro- ceed and avoids jeopardy to the species. Be- cause site-specific conservation measures don't CO>ltinued Oil page 71 NR&E/SUMMER ]993 A fu"damental aspect oJtbe recovery program is its ability to provide tbe "reasonable and prudent alternatit'e" for section 7 consultation purposes. 25