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lJU1J;H ) COLORADO 'J ~ e DEPARl'MENTOF NATURAL RESOURCES Native Species Conservation: A Statewide Challenge Colorado Department of Natural Resouxces . 1313 Shennan St, Room 718 . Denver, CO 80218 It Colorado's experience with the ESA . The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is often refened to as the most powerful enviroNnentallaw in the world, Efforts to substantially change or weaken the ESA have not been successful, and public support for the ESA remains high. . Colorado is already engaged in several efforts to recov- er species listed as threatened or endangered under the SA - the Upper Colorado and San Juan recovery programs and the Platte River Basin recovery effort. These programs are likely to cost the state $28-30 mil- lion over the next 10-15 years. In return. they provide substantial benefilS to wildlife, while. significantly reducing regulatory delays and costs for water U5eI$, . According to the Colorado Natural Heritage Program at CSU, 47 of Colorado's native wildlife species are declining and therefore are vulnerable for potential listing under the ESA, as are 141 native plant species, . Most of these species can be managed efft,.ti.dy under the Colorado Division of W1Idlife's non-game program. Some species, as discussed further in this document, are so vulnerable that additional resoun:es are needed to forestall further conflicts between wildlife conserva- tion and economic enterprise. . Colorado's growth and development - even if they slow down from ament levels - guarantee that Colorado will experience more rather than fewer endangered species challenges in the coming years. EffOrts to streamline ESA's regulatory mechanisms while helping wildlife . The recovery efforts in the Upper Colorado, San Juan and, more recently, the Platte river basins are path- breaking initiatives to reconcile species protection with water use and development activities. . Each of these efforts represenlS a 1arge-saIe, program- matic response that serves as an insurance policy for long-term water management against the high cost and uncertainty of doing business in the challenging regu- latory envirorunent created by the ESA. . To date, the Upper Colorado River and San Juan Recovery 1\,,&=05 have allowed almost 200 water supply proposals in Colorado to successfully comply with the ESA. Without the programs, each water It provider would have had to comply with the ESA unassisted, . When implemented, the recently executed Platte agree- ment will provide similar benefits to water U5eI$, . Though Colorado's projected investment of $28-30 mil- lion in the three recovery programs is substantial, these dollars will be leveraged by funds from the federal government and other partners to make up the remain- der of the estimated total of $200 million. Colorado's efforts to minimize the need for additional listings . A better approach is to simply do a better job at keep- ing Colorado's native species from declining to the point that listing under the ESA is the only recowse. . This principle lies at the heart of the 1995 agreement between Governor Romer and US. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, which commits the state and the Department of the Interior to prevent the decline of species to eliminate the need for additional listings, . The agreement also commits state and federal agencies to engagl! the private sector in rum-regW4tary, vo/un- tJay and incmffr1Mased approaches, Examples of how this agreement is working for Colorado include the partnership between ranchers and conservationists to protect the Gunnison sage grouse on private lands, the 100-member partnership that is working to develop a conservation plan to pr0- tect the Preble's meadow jumping mouse, and the Division of Wildlife's efforts to proactively conserve the boreal toad and the capshell snail The opportunity presented by HB 1006 . The Colorado General Assembly will consider this year HB 1006, which would aeate a Species Conservation Trust Fund for existing recovery programs and for con- serving declining species. . The bill was drafted by the Colorado Water Congress, which gathered input and support from private indus- try, agriculture, local governments and others, . The bill was endorsed by the Interim Land and Water ' Committee and is sponsored by Representative Jeanne Adkins and Senator Tillie Bishop, . (More illfonncdioll about HB 1006 i71Side.)