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<br />Operations and Maintenance <br /> <br />Appendix D contains a summary of operation and maintenance responsibilities, These activities <br />would be funded through the Recovery Program or through the Service. Possible sources of <br />operational and maintenance funding include establishing a trust fund to be administered by the <br />Recovery Program or the State of Colorado (not approved by State Legislature at this time), <br />obtaining Federal legislation to provide funding, or from the Service's general operations funds, <br />None of the capital funding provided to the Recovery Program by Reclamation would be used for <br />long-term operation, maintenance, or replacement expenses. Construction would not begin on <br />the project until operation, maintenance, and replacement funding mechanisms are agreed upon, <br />There would be no operation, maintenance, or replacement costs to GVIC, although GVIC may <br />elect to do the work with their costs being reimbursed, Because the passage would generally <br />operate as a natural channel, work should be minimal. Stop-logs would be included in the design <br />to close the notch in extremely dry periods when the operations could reduce the diversion <br />capability of the GVIC Diversion. <br /> <br />The construction and operation of the fish passage and any fish screens needed inthe future are <br />subject to consultation under the Endangered Species Act. The actions described in this report <br />are discretionary, directed and approved through the Recovery Program, in which the Service <br />and Reclamation are participants. During the endangered species consultation, the Service <br />detel1l1ines if any endangered fishes would incidentally be taken in the GVIC Canal where they <br />might become trapped and die. If so, the Service can authorize a certain amount of incidental <br />take and develop reasonable and prudent measures to minimize take. Incidental take statements <br />exempt entities from Endangered Species Act Section 9 prohibitions if they comply with the <br />reasonable and prudent measures. <br /> <br />The final Biological Opinion on the project (V,S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1997) concluded that <br />there probably would be incidental take of endangered fish in the canal as a result of the fish <br />passage. The Service determined that the level of anticipated take would not likely result in <br />jeopardy to the species or destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat. The Service <br />presented the following measure to minimize the take of Colorado squawfish and razorback <br />suckers: "Incorporate a monitoring study into the currently proposed fish passage evaluation that <br />determines if endangered fish are entering the GVIC Canal. If the Service determines that the <br />authorized incidental take could be exceeded, then the Recovery Program will design, construct, <br />and maintain a fish screening device to prevent or reduce adult and subadult fish (greater than 300 <br />mm total length) from entering the GVIC Cana!." According to the biological opinion, in order <br />for the project to be exempt from the prohibitions of Section 9 of the Act, the following terms and <br />conditions would be necessary: "Develop an appropriate design for a fish preclusion device that is <br />compatible with the operation of GVIC facilities within the time frame outlined in the Recovery <br />Action Plan. A screening devise will be constructed to preclude adult and subadult fish from <br />entering the canal within the time frame outlined in the Recovery Action Plan." The biological <br />opinion is clear that any incidental take resultirig from the direct or indirect operation of the fish <br />passage is not the responsibility ofGVIC, <br /> <br />11 <br />