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<br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br /> <br />A. Puroose <br /> <br />The Secretary of the Interior is requested to approve Department of the <br />Interior participation in a Recovery Implementation Program. for three <br />endangered fish species (Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, bony tail chub) <br />and one rare fish species (razorback sucker) in the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin. The Recovery Implementation Program (program) was developed by the <br />Upper Colorado River Basin Coordinating Committee, which is comprised of <br />representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of <br />Reclamation, and the States of Colorado, Utah; and Wyoming. Water <br />development and conservation interests also participated. The program is <br />intended to avoid a possible major confrontation between water development <br />and endangered species' instream flow. needs. The purpose of this document <br />is to analyze and assess impacts to the human environment from <br />implementing this program. <br /> <br />This document is a programmatic (or umbrella) environmental assessment <br />that discloses potential impacts or areas of concern. It will be <br />supplemented by future, site-specific National Environmental Policy Act <br />documents prepared for individual program actions to ensure thorough <br />environmental review. By staging environmental analysis in this manner, <br />meaningful National Environmental Policy Act analysis is assured for the <br />entire program. <br /> <br />B. Alternatives Evaluated in Deoth <br /> <br />Two alternatives were evaluated in depth: the "No Action" alternative and <br />the Proposed Action. <br /> <br />The "No Action" alternative is to continue current Federal and State <br />efforts to conserve the endangered and rare fishes. It is primarily a <br />protection effort that guards the fishes from extinction, and is not <br />considered sufficient to ensure recovery. Its major components are to: <br />continue Section 7 consultation on proposed water projects and operating <br />Reclamation projects, conduct research on and monitor the fish and their <br />habitat needs (as funds permit), and conduct recovery actions (as funds <br />permit) . <br /> <br />The Proposed Action is to partiCipate in the Recovery Implementation <br />Program. This program is a cooperative Federal/State/private program that <br />works within the context of State water rights systems to: continue <br />Section 7 consultation, accelerate research efforts, and significantly <br />strengthen and expand recovery and management efforts in order.to recover <br />the endangered fishes and manage the razorback sucker so that it does not <br />require the protection of the Endangered Species Act after a IS-year <br />period. <br /> <br />The two alternatives are compared in Tables II-I-A and II-I-B. A complete <br />description of the Proposed Action is available as a separate document <br />entitled "Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in <br />the Upper Colorado River Basin." <br /> <br />E5-1 <br />