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~ ~ 'lam S~,QNT OFr III IIIIIIIIIIIII III ~, United States Department of the Interior $ 999 FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 4„kN s ~a~° Ecological Services 764 Horiwn Drive, Building B Grand Junction, Colorado 81506-3946 M REPLY REFER TO: ES-6-RO-95-F-001-GJ-310 RECEIVE D MS 65412 GJ OCT 2 5 2001 October23, 2001 Division of Minerals and CeoloAY Cazl R. Johnston Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 1999 Broadway, Suite 3320 Denver, Colorado 80202-5733 Dear Mr. Johnston: On October 16, 2001, we sent a letter to the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology suggesting that formal consultation under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act may be necessary for Bowie Resources LTD Bowie No. 2 Mine, Permit Revision No. 6 due to the water depletion from the Upper Colorado River Basin. Therefore, in accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the Interagency Cooperation Regulations (50 CFR 402), the Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed your September 24, 2001, correspondence regazding the impacts of the Bowie Resources LTD Bowie No. 2 Mine, Permit Revision No. 6 project on endangered Colorado River fishes. The project is located in numerous sections of T. 12 and 13 S., R. 91 and 92 W., Delta County, Colorado. The proposed action will cause an average annual depletion of 20.3 acre-feet to the North Fork of the Gunnison River in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Previous consultation for this project was completed on December 10, 1999 (GJ-6-CO-99-F-034). A Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Pasin was initiated on January 22, 1988. The Recovery Program was intended to be the reasonable and prudent alternative to avoid jeopazdy to [he endangered fishes by depletions from the Upper Colorado River Basin. !n order to further define 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 expeditious manner. Included in the Recovery Program was the requirement that a depletion fee would be paid to help support the Recovery Program. On July 8, 1997, the Service issued an infra-Service biological opinion determining that the depletion fee for depletions of 100 acre-feet or less aze no longer