2012-03-07_PERMIT FILE - C2010088 (28)

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McClave Canyon Mine Expansion and Fruita Loadout Facility Biological Assessment Management goals include (FWS, 2002b): • Reestablish populations with hatchery- produced fish. • Identify and maintain genetic variability in Lake Mohave. • Provide and legally protect habitat necessary to provide adequate habitat and sufficient range for all life stages. • Provide passages over barriers within occupied habitat. • investigate options for providing appropriate water temperatures in the Gunnison River. • Minimize subadult and adult entrainment at diversion /out -take structures. • Ensure protection from overutilization. • Ensure protection from diseases and parasites. • Regulate non - native fish releases and escapement. • Control problematic non - native fish. • Minimize the risk of hazardous materials spills in critical habitat. • Remediate water quality problems. • Minimize the threat'of hybridization with white sucker. • Provide for the long -term management and protection 'of populations and their habitats. Critical habitat. FWS (1994) designated the same critical habitat for razorback suckers as for Colorado pikeminnows, described above. 4.3.2.2 Environmental Baseline Current Status in the Action Area. Larval razorback suckers have been collected in.the Colorado River upstream and downstream from' 'the confluence of Reed Wash (from River Mile 148.0 to River Mile 156.8) between -2004'and 2007 (see Table 7 in Osmundson and Seal, 2009). Most razorback suckers in the Colorado River have occurred in the Grand Valley near Grand Junction, although the number fish captured in Grand Valley declined dramatically since 1974 (Osmundson and Kaeding, 1991). Wild fish may have been extirpated in the Upper Colorado River Basin but hatchery fish have been stocked as a means to achieve recovery goals. Since 1996, about 197,100 subadult razorback suckers have been stocked in the Upper Colorado River system, (Felker et al., 2011). Survival of stocked razorback suckers was dependerit 'ori their size when released; survival rates were much lower during the first year than were assumed in the species' stocking plan (Zelasko 'et al.,, 2009). Except for a population estimate of around 100 razorback suckers in the middle Green River (Modde et al., 1996), there are no current estimates of razorback suckers in the upper Colorado River. 4.3.2.3 Effects by the Proposed Action Direct and Indirect Effects. Construction and operation of the Proposed Action could directly and /or indirectly affect razorback suckers through one or more of the same six pathways that were described above for Colorado pikeminnows. Selenium affects razorback suckers .similarly to other fish, including Colorado pikeminnows. Selenium concentrations -in eggs and larvae exceed concentrations found in breeding adults (Hamilton et al., 2002; Hamilton et al .., 2005x; Hamilton et al., 2005b). High levels of selenium in eggs produce deformed embryos. In general, the percent of eggs that hatched.and the size of eggs decreased with increasing selenium concentrations in adults, and levels of deformities in embryos increased with increased selenium in adults (Hamilton et- al., 2005c). Selenium contamination in the Colorado River is a major .concern in the species' recovery because the species' reproduction is adversely affected. -As discussed for Colorado pikeminnows, any increase of selenium into East Salt Creek or Reed Wash due to the Proposed Action would impact razorback suckers recovery in the upper Colorado River system (Hamilton, 1998). 30