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~oilLi a. la:aa r~-~ a,uyL9o17, USHUN 5:1,\HUIiM1 ..s ~ ~ .. • United States Depaztment of the Interior • FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Fio~oli~al s~„m ~ ` • ~ Wotern Cnbnde OIFre N ] 76i rlwlun, Ome, $oucA Mnn A ~,+ ~ntr tin, ro Gran.! funnm. Cobrado ! 1506-796 ES-6-RO-95-F-001-GJ142 MS 65412 6J ti .. . . III III III IIIIIII III J~veaJ!1 999 RECEIVEG NOV ~ 21996 Umig~~~n of mulercrs s GeoloS'Y November 7, 1996 Memorandum To: Program Support Division, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation p= and Enforcement, Denver, Colorado (Attn: Gregory Reed) i from: Acting Assistant Field Supervisor, Ecological Services. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Junction, Colorado Suhject: Endangered Species Act Consultation for Oxbow Larbon and Mineral, Sanborn Lreek Mine, Gunnison County, Colorado In accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.L. 1531 et seq.), and the Interagency Cooperation Regulations (50 CFR 402), the Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed your September ]0, 1996, correspondence regarding the impacts of the Oxbow Carbon and Mineral Sanborn • Creek Mine permit revision project on endangered Colorado River fishes. The project is located in T. ]3 S., R. 90 W., sections l and 12, Gunnison County, Colorado. The proposed action will cause an average annual depletion of 93.2 acre-feet to the Gunnison River in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The Fish and Wildlife Service discussed this project with the Office of Surface Mining *_o clarify the water depletion estimates in relation to previous biological opinions issued for Sanborn Creek Mine. You notified this office on November 6, 1996, that the depletion estimate of 93.2 acre feet is correct. 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 be the reasonable and prudent alternative tc avoid jeopardy to the endangered fishes by depletions from the Upper Colorado River Basin. K~ In order to further define and clarify section 1 agreement was implemented on Program participants. Incorporated in Implementation Program Recovery Actfon believed to be required to recover the expeditious manner. the process in the Recovery Program, a October 15, 1993, by the Recovery to this agreement fs a Recovery Plan which identifies actions currently endangered fishes in the most Included in the Recovery Program was the requirement that a depletion fee would be paid to help support the Recovery Program. On Harch 5, 1995, the Service issued an intro-Service biological opinion determining that the • depletion fee for depletions of 100 acre-feet or less are no longer required because the Recovery Program has made sufficient progress to be the reasonable