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<br />threatened and endangered species.'. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formed the <br />Colorado Squawfish Recovery Team in 1975 and expanded the scope of the effort to include <br />all endangered fishes in the upper basin in 1976.'9 The energy boom in the late 1970s <br />prompted a flurry of proposed water development projects in the upper basin, requiring the <br />Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the effects of this water development on recovery of the <br />listed fishes. According to Wydoski and Hamill, "[b]y 1984 the USFWS had issued nearly a <br />hundred biological opinions, concluding that the site-specific cumulative effect of water <br />developments and depletions was likely to jeopardize the continued existence of endangered. <br />Colorado River fishes."50 The opinions, however, also proposed "reasonable and prudent <br />alternatives" which, if implemented, would allow water development to go forward. In <br />general, the "alternatives" included support for the activities of the recovery program and a <br />suggestion that, so long as recovery was proceeding, so too could water development. In <br />1987, this approach was formalized in the "Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered <br />Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin." <br />As revised in 1993, the program contains seven elements, estimated to require funding <br />of as much as $134 million between 1994 and 2004.51 First, the instream flow needs of the <br />fishes are to be identified and protected. Second, important habitat areas are to be restored <br />and managed. Third, the adverse effects of nonnative fishes are to be reduced. Fourth, the <br />genetic resources of the species are to be protected and managed. Fifth, monitoring and <br />research are to be conducted as necessary to support recovery efforts. Sixth, education of the <br />public is to be pursued through an active program of information dissemination. And seventh, <br />overall planning and coordination of recovery program activities are to be pursued, as is <br />obtaining adequate funding support. Participation in the Recovery Implementation Program <br /> <br />.. 16 U.S. C. fi 1533 (I). <br /> <br />.. Richard S. Wydoski and John Hamill, Evolution of a Cooperative Recovery Program for Endangered Fishes in <br />the Upper Colorado River Basin, ch. 8 in [] at 132. <br /> <br />" Id. at 133. <br /> <br />". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Section 7 Consultation, Sufficient Progress, and Historic Projects Agreement <br />and Recovery Action Plan-Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado <br />River Basin, Oct. IS, 1993. <br /> <br />22 <br />