A bill introduced days ago by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado would extend the life of programs that seek to protect endangered fish in the Upper Colorado and San Juan river basins.
Neguse, D-Lafayette, who is chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, is putting forward a measure to authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to continue implementing the programs through 2024.
The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program is authorized by Congress through 2023. The collaborative program dates to 1988, and works to recover four endangered fish: the humpback chub, bonytail, razorback sucker and Colorado pikeminnow.
Program partners include entities such as state and federal governments, utilities, irrigation districts, tribes and conservation groups.
After years of efforts by the program to support fish population numbers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering moving the humpback chub and razorback sucker to threatened rather than endangered status.
The Upper Colorado and San Juan programs allow for water development that complies with federal laws protecting the imperiled fish.
Local efforts to implement these measures include work to coordinate and boost releases of water from upstream reservoirs to keep water levels from falling below critical thresholds in the Colorado River between irrigation diversion points in the Palisade area and the river’s confluence with the Gunnison River.
“The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program has been working for decades to protect endangered fish found only in the Colorado River system, and sustain their natural habitats while allowing water development projects at the state and local levels to continue,” Neguse said in a news release. “I’m pleased to introduce this reauthorizing bill ... in partnership with local and state partners to protect Colorado wildlife and local water development and ensure the reliability and consistency of this program for the future.”
His measure also would extend a looming deadline the Interior Department faces related to the programs.
Current law requires the Interior secretary, working with the recovery programs, to submit a report on the programs by Sept. 30, detailing in part activities to be carried out after the 2023 federal fiscal year and what they would cost.
Program partners are asking for a one-year extension of that deadline because of uncertainty and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Neguse news release says.
The recent infrastructure bill that passed the Senate includes $50 million for Colorado River endangered fish recovery and conservation programs.
That would provide additional funding for the programs in their more immediate future.
Most of the funding for the Upper Colorado River program comes from revenues from hydropower from federal dams. But reservoir levels are falling in the region from drought and hydropower generation is in jeopardy, and the river district in its recent article said partners are working to find a new funding structure for the program.
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August 16, 2021 at 01:15PM
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Neguse bill would extend endangered fish programs | Western Colorado | gjsentinel.com - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
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