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U.S. <br />F76H & W HAI. "E <br />SERVICE <br />United States Department of the Interior <br />FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE °r <br />Ecological Services <br />764 Horizon Drive, Building B <br />Grand Junction, Colorado 81506 -3946 <br />IN REPLY REFER TO: <br />ES /GJ- 6- CO -04 -F- 012 -YP041 13-06--26-05 <br />TAILS 06E24100- 2013 -F -0098 <br />June 21, 2013 <br />Memorandum <br />To: Environmental Protection fice of Surface Mining, Reclamation and <br />Enforcement, Denver, C to <br />I <br />From: Western Colorado Sup6rvisor, Fis and ldlife Service, ological Services, <br />Grand Junction, Colorado <br />Subject: Trapper Mine Permit Renew application No. 6 (RN -6) <br />In accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended (16 <br />U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the Interagency Cooperation Regulations (50 CFR 402), the Fish and <br />Wildlife Service (Service) transmits this correspondence to serve as the final biological opinion <br />(BO) for the Trapper Mine Permit renewal No. 6 (RN -6). <br />The proposed action is the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) renewal of the permit for Trapper <br />Mining Inc. This constitutes an on -going activity. However, in updating its water use under the <br />permit, water depletions from the Yampa River have increased to a total of 160.10 acre -feet per <br />year. <br />A Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin was initiated on January 22, 1988. The Recovery Program was intended to be the <br />reasonable and prudent alternative for individual projects to avoid the likelihood of jeopardy to <br />the endangered fishes from impacts of depletions to the Upper Colorado River Basin. In order to <br />further define and clarify the process in the Recovery Program, a section 7 agreement was <br />implemented on October 15, 1993, by the Recovery Program participants. Incorporated into this <br />agreement is a Recovery Implementation Program Recovery Action Plan (RIPRAP) which <br />identifies actions currently believed to be required to recover the endangered fishes in the most <br />expeditious manner. <br />On January 10, 2005, the Service issued a final programmatic biological opinion (PBO) on the <br />Management Plan for Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin (this document is available <br />for viewing at the following internet address: http: / /www.r6.fws.gov /crrip /yampaPBO.htm). The <br />Service has determined that projects that fit under the umbrella of the Yampa River PBO would <br />