1997-06-13_REPORT - M1981302 (11)

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In recent years, Federal resource management agencies have initiated planning and management efforts for native fisheries resources and watershed and riparian area management. For example, the Bureau of Land Management is guided by its "Riparian-Wetland Initiative for the 1990's" (U.S.O. I . Bureau of Land Management 1990) and "Riparian Area Management - Process for Assessing Proper Functioning Condition" (Prichard 1993) . The Forest Service has undertaken efforts to inventory and classify riparian areas, conduct experimental management in riparian areas with particular focus on grazing and recreation, and provide training to Forest Service staff and other agencies on riparian area and watershed management and function. In response to the Northern spotted owl controversy, President Clinton created three interagency working groups, one of which was the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team (FEMAT) composed of representatives from the Forest Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and Fish and Wildlife Service. This team was charged with using an ecosystem approach to forest management. Their report developed and described concepts, terminology, and approaches to use in managing aquatic and riparian resources based on a watershed-level perspective (Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team 1993) . Following that effort, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service together prepared an environmental assessment or managing anadromous fish-producing watersheds in areas of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California not covered in the FEMAT document (U.S.D.A. Forest Service and U.S.D. I Bureau of Land Management, 1994) . The assessment incorporated the concepts, terminology, and approach developed by FEMAT. A further application of ecosystem management at the watershed level applied to conservation of a species was the Pre-Decisional Draft Working Document Conservation Strategy for Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) prepared by an interagency technical work group (Interagency Technical Group 1994) . The concept of more comprehensive watershed level management is being recognized at the executive level with a Presidential Task Force review of the Mississippi River flooding of 1993 (Galloway 1994) , and at the congressional level as part of the current debate surrounding reauthorization of the Clean Water Act (William Jackson, National Park Service hydrologist, Washington Office Water Resources Division, pers. comm. 1994) . The Ute ladies'-tresses recovery plan was inspired by these efforts and is designed to coordinate with and complement programs working toward watershed/ecosystem management. The following sections of this recovery plan begin with a brief discussion of strategic goals and guidelines for Ute ladies'-tresses recovery and population and habitat restoration. Numbers in parenthesis refer to the recovery task numbers in the stepdown and narrative outlines. Following that, the document describes concepts, and processes for conducting watershed level planning and implementing management guidelines designed to achieve orchid recovery by restoring watershed condition and function. Terms used that are specific to this discussion are defined in Appendix II .' 'The approach, terminology, and many of the concepts described in this recovery plan were inspired by and closely follow (in some cases, word for word) the Pre-Decisional Draft Working Document Conservation Strategy for Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) . The Conservation Strategy is an interagency 18