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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />"., <br /> <br />Colorado River Environmental Activities <br /> <br />Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program <br /> <br />On May 22, 2003, the SAIC/JSA Technical Consulting Team released the preliminary draft habitat <br />conservation plan (HCP) and preliminary draft Biological Assessment (BA) components of the Lower <br />Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (LCR MSCP). These documents were prepared <br />based upon the technical and policy-level guidance contained within the framework document resulting <br />from the recent efforts of the Coordinating Team over the past few months, <br /> <br />The draft HCP describes the following types ofinfonnation: (I) provides a background on the <br />goals, objectives, and purposes of the LCR MSCP; (2) describes the proposed federal and non-federal <br />"covered" projects; (3) describes the biological and ecological resources of the Lower Colorado River <br />Ecoregion; (4) analyzes potential impacts and levels of species take; (5) describes the proposed <br />Conservation Strategy; (6) describes the governance and implementation structure; (7) describes total <br />estimated costs associated with implementation and potential sources of program funding; (8) describes <br />the level of "assurances" sought by the non-federal participants; and (9) analyzes the proposed <br />alternatives to take that were considered but rejected. Finally, the draft HCP contains a comprehensive <br />set of technical appendices supporting the data described in the various chapters, <br /> <br />The preliminary draft BA addresses the federal covered projects (i.e., primarily Reclamation's, <br />BLM's, and BIA's projects) and describes the potential impacts to federally-listed species. Specifically, <br />the preliminary draft SA describes the following information: (I) lists and describes the federal actions <br />being consulted on pursuant to ESA Section 7; (2) describes the non-federal "discretionary" covered <br />activities (which are described and addressed in the preliminary draft HCP, discussed above); (3) <br />describes the proposed "environmental baseline" ofthe Lower Colorado River Ecoregion; (4) describes <br />the potential effects associated with the covered actions in the project area; (5) describes the potential <br />effects related to the covered actions outside of the project area; (6) describes the cumulative effects; <br />and (7) provides technical appendices supporting data and conclusions presented in the draft BA. <br /> <br />The LCR MSCP Work Group met on Friday, June 6, 2003 to review the draft documents and <br />discuss the process for incorporating changes and addressing any policy-related questions, The draft <br />documents are currently being reviewed by all of the LCR MSCP participating agencies, Comments <br />on the draft documents are due by June 20, 2003. The technical contractors will revise the draft <br />documents based upon comments and direction from the LCR MSCP Steering Committee. A revised <br />set of the documents is slated to be released in the Fall. Prior to release of the next iteration of draft <br />documents, the LCR MSCP participants will conduct another round of public scoping meetings. <br />Currently, these meetings are scheduled to occur in early September 2003, and will be held in Laughlin, <br />Nevada; Blythe, California; and Yuma, Arizona. <br /> <br />The LCR MSCP Steering Committee is currently developing the alternatives that will be analyzed <br />in the NEPA and CEQA compliance documentation. These alternatives include various methods of <br />implementing the conservation strategy, differing levels of conservation, and alternatives to taking of <br /> <br />8 <br />