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Page 2 <br />from the upper Colorado River basin will be considered by the Service a <br />negative impact to the federally listed fish. With such a finding, the <br />Service will expect the Office of Surface Mining to conclude "may affect" to <br />these fish species, and request formal consultation with this office, as <br />required by the Endangered Species Act. Your calculation of the net depletion <br />should consider the entire life of the project, and be reported as the average <br />annual depletion in acre-feet. <br />Furthermore, approximately 2,094 river miles of the Colorado River and its <br />tributaries were designated as critical habitat for the four federally listed <br />fish on April 20, 1994 (Federal Register Vol. 59, No. 54, March 21, 1994). The <br />Fish and Wildlife Service will consider any water depletion associated with <br />the project as an adverse modification of the critical habitat. <br />The southwestern willow flycatcher was proposed for Federal listing as an <br />endangered species on July 23, 1993. It is a riparian obligate, usually found <br />associated with Fremont cottonwood, Gooding willow, and tamarisk along slow <br />moving watercourses. It is entirely insectivorous. Museum records of this <br />species exist from the Colorado River near Rifle. There are less than 1,000 <br />breeding pairs throughout its range. Habitat destruction and fragmentation <br />are the principal reasons for the species decline and threaten its continued <br />survival. The willow flycatcher winters in Central America, and is therefore <br />considered a neotropical migrant. It has been included in the Partners in <br />Flight international joint venture to conserve neotropical migrants. <br />Section 7(cj of the Endangered Species Act, as amended, requires that the <br />Federal agency proposing a major Federal action significantly affecting the <br />quality of the human environment conduct and submit to the Service a <br />biological assessment to determine effects of the proposal on listed species. <br />The biological assessment shall be completed within 180 days after the date on <br />which initiated or a time mutually agreed upon between the agency and the <br />Service. The assessment must be completed before physical project <br />modification/alteration begins. If the biological assessment is not begun <br />within 90 days, the species list above should be verified prior to initiation <br />of the assessment. <br />The Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology may prepare the biological <br />assessment. However, the Office of Surface Mining should evaluate the <br />potential impacts of the proposed project and determine if the action may <br />affect any listed species. If a determination is "may affect" for listed <br />species, the Office of Surface Mining must request in writing formal <br />consultation from this office and should provide this office with a biological <br />assessment, and any other relevant information used in making impact <br />determinations. <br />We would like to bring to your attention species which are candidates for <br />official listing as threatened or endangered species (Federal Resister, Vol. <br />56, No. 225, November 2, 1991; Federal Register, Vol. 55, No. 35, February 21, <br />1990). While these species presently have no legal protection under the Act, <br />it is within the spirit of the Act to consider project impacts to potentially <br />sensitive candidate species. Additionally, we wish to make you aware of the <br />