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Appendix IV Development of a Reasonable and Prudent Alternative I 1:' 4 .:;; in the San Juan River. The final biological opinion required that, as part of the fish study and recovery program, approximately 300,000 acre-feet of water annually be periodically released from the Navajo Dam and Reservoir located upstream on the San Juan River and that these water releases be protected through the squawfish's habitat. According to the final biological opinion, none of the project's additional facilities can be constructed and no additional water can be depleted from the Animas River for the project until the study is completed and the Service detennines that the squawfish would not likely be jeopardized. Construction of the Project Bureau officials told us that the alternative is a means of starting construction on the full Animas-La Plata project-in other words, it is an incremental step toward completing the full project. Whereas the full project will annually deplete approximately 155,000 acre-feet of water from the river and physically convey it to the areas where it will be used, the alternative annually depletes roughly one-third of this amount of water and does not include facilities to physically convey the water from the Ridges Basin Reservoir to the areas where it will be used. A memorandum of understanding attached to the Service's final biological opinion fonnally recognizes the Bureau's position on the alternative: "The SeIVice is preparing a biological opinion for the Animas-La Plata Project that contains a reasonable and prudent alternative which provides for construction of an initial portion of the project." The importance of the alternative as a means of starting construction was emphasized by the Solicitor for Interior's Southwest Region in a December 1990 briefing paper: .. . , construction of a portion of [the AniInas-La Plata project] represents a gamble that more may be built later. This is important because that is the only way the Ute 'liibes will benefit and their water rights claims will finally be settled under the 1988 water rights legislation.' Water Protection The Service's final biological opinion states: "It is not enough to only release water from the Navajo Dam. There also must be guaranteed delivery of the water so that it provides the habitat improvement necessary to maintain and increase the endangered fish population in the San Juan River." Such protection, according to the final biological opinion, the memorandum of understanding, and Interior officials, is under the legal jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation and the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Page 21 GAOIRCED-96-1 Anlmas-La Plata ProJeet