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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Background, reasons for establishment San Juan RIP The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program was one of four components of the reasonable and prudent alternative provided in the October 25, 1991, Biological Opinion issued by Region 6 to the Bureau of Reclamation for the Animas-La Plata Project. 1. .. .only those Project facilities which result in a net annual depletion not to axceed 57,100 acre-feet will be constructed and operated pursuant to this biological opinion. 2. Reclamation has agreed to fund approximately 7 years of research effort on the San Juan River and its tributaries with emphasis on observing a biological response in the endangered fish population and habitat conditions. . . . The ultimate goal of this research is to characterize those factors which limit native fish populations in the San Juan River and to provide management options to conserve and restore the endangered fish community. 3. At the end of the approximately 7- year research period, the Navajo Dam would be operated to mimic a natural hydrograph for the life of the Project based on the research. 4. There shall be a binding agreement(s) that the reservoir releases (for both the study period and for tha Iifa of tha Project) are legally protected to and through the endangered fish habitat to Lake Powell. This agreement will include a commitment for the appropriate parties to develop and implement a Recovery Implementation Program for the San Juan RIver within 1 year. Upper Colorado RIP In 1984, discussions among Federal and State (Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah) governments in the Upper Colorado River basin concerning the protection of endangered fish species and the proposed development of water resources of the basin resulted in the establishment, by a Memorandum of Understanding. of the Upper ColoradO River Basin Coordinating Committee. Recognizing that earlier consultations under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act had found that new water projects would likely jeopardize the continued existence of the listed fish species. this committee was charged with the identification of reasonable and prudent alternatives that would preserve the species while permitting new water development to proceed in the upper basin. They concluded that a systematic approach was needed in order to achieve the committee's fundamental objective of accommodating rare fish species conservation with continued water resource development in the upper basin. This would best be achieved through a concerted and cooperative effort to recover all four species (Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, bony tail, and razorback sucker). As a consequence. the parties datermined that a comprehensive program is needed to implement a broad range of measures designed not only to preserve the listed species but to ensure their full recovery and eventual delisting under the Endangered Species Act.