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pB~ 0~ '95 04~59AM P~ABODY WSTN SENECA MINE 1V~1/ iTr o ~a Darr rISS & WILDLIFE • P.2 00$ United States Department of the Interior IN ^BPLYIIEF6"TD• FS-6-RO-95-F-001-GJ69 MS 65412 GJ FISH AND V711.D1IFE SERYlCE Fs.~o~1d Satiee V7a~v++ r~{end" Datee 166 F6o,h"e D~n'e. 5"+,L AoW" A Crand )Op,o"n. Celotads 815064945 July 31,1995 Memorandum To: Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, Qenver, Colorado (Attn: Greg Reed) From: Assistant Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecoiogieal Services, firand Junction, Colorado Subject: Seneca [Dal Company's Yoast Mine, Routt County, Colorado In accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species AcL of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the Interagency Cooperation Regulations (50 CFR 40Y), the Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed your July l9, ]995, correspondence regarding the impacts of the Seneca Coal Company's Yoast Nine Project, The Service concurs with your 'no affect" determinations for the bald eagle (Nal~aeetus leucocephalus), peregrine falcon (falw pereg~fnus), and whooping crane (Grus americans). The Service concurs with your "may effect" determination for the Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus 7ucfus), razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus), bonytail (GfTa eleyans), and humpback chub (Gila cypha) due to water depletion impacts. Your fetter mentions that since the water depletion is under 100 acre-feet the depletion will be covered by the infra-Service section 7 consultation for the Upper Colorado River Basin and the Service will consider the July 19, 1995, letter as initiating formal consultation. The project is located in several sections within T. 5 and 6 N., R. 87 W., Roust County, Colorado. The proposed action will cause an average annual depletion of 48.9 acre-feet to the Yampa River in the Upper Colorado River Basin. A Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin was initiated on January 22, 1988. The Recovery Program was intended to he the reasonable and prudent alternative to avoid jeopardy to the endangered fishes by depictions from the Upper Colorado River Basin. In order tv further daftne and clarify the process in the Recovery Program, a section 7 agreement was implemented on October 15, 1993, by the Recovery Program participants. Incorporated into this agreement is a Recovery Implementation Program Recovery Action Plan which identifies actions currently believed to be required to recover the endangered fishes in the most expeditlous manner. .