2010-05-04_APPLICATION CORRESPONDENCE - C2009087

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Implementation Program Recovery Action Plan (RIPRAP) which identifies actions currently believed to be required to recover the endangered fishes in the most expeditious manner. On January 10, 2005, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued the final programmatic biological opinion (PBO) on the Management Plan.for Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin (this document is available for viewing at the following internet address: http://www.r6.fws.gov/crrip/yampaPBO.htm). The Service has determined that projects that fit under the umbrella of the Yampa River PBO would avoid the likelihood of jeopardy and/or adverse modification of critical habitat for depletion impacts to the Yampa River basin. For projects involving water depletions less than 100 acre-feet/year to fit under the umbrella of the Yampa River PBO, the Federal agency requesting consultation must document the project location, the amount of the water depletion, identify if the depletion is new or historic, and provide the information to the Service when consultation is initiated. This information was provided in your consultation request, therefore, the requirements have been met for the subject project to fit under the umbrella of the Yampa River PBO. The Service requests that the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement retain discretionary Federal authority for the subject project in case reinitiation of section 7 consultation is required. For your information the reinitiation notice from the Yampa River PBO is presented below. REINITIATION NOTICE This concludes formal consultation on the subject action. The Recovery Action Plan is an adaptive management plan because additional information, changing priorities, and the development of the States' entitlement may require modification of the Recovery Action Plan. Therefore, the Recovery Action Plan is reviewed annually and updated and changed when necessary and the required time frames include changes in timing approved by means of the normal procedures of the Recovery Program, as explained in the description of the proposed action. Every 2 years, for the life of the Recovery Program, the Service and Recovery Program will review implementation of the Recovery Action Plan actions that are included in this biological opinion (BO) to determine timely compliance with applicable schedules. As provided in 50 CFR section 402.16, reinitiation of formal consultation is required for new projects where discretionary Federal Agency involvement or control over the action has been retained (or is authorized by law) and under the following conditions: The amount or extent of take specified in the incidental take statement for this opinion is exceeded. The implementation of the Recovery actions contained in this opinion will further decrease the likelihood of take caused by water depletion impacts. 2. New information reveals effects of the action that may affect listed species or critical habitat in a manner or to an extent not considered in this opinion. In preparing this opinion, the Service describes the positive and negative effects of the action it anticipates and considered in the section of the opinion entitled "EFFECTS OF THE ACTION." New information would include, but is not limited to, not achieving one or more response 2