Final Programmatic Biological Opinion for Bureau of Reclamation's

population response. However, until these recovery goals are established, trends in certainpopulation indices (Appendix D) will provide an interim assessment of a species’ progress towardrecovery.6. Long-Term FundingThe Recovery Program participants will pursue and support introduction of long-term fundinglegislation in the Senate and House of Representatives during the 106th Congress. The legislationis to authorize cost shared funding for both the San Juan River and Colorado River RecoveryPrograms. The purpose of the legislation is to authorize and provide funding for theimplementation of all the Recovery Activities of the Recovery Program within the currentlyestablished time schedule. This legislation is essential to the implementation of the RecoveryActions described above. The legislation will include authorization for both capital and basefunding.The Recovery Program participants also will continue to pursue and support annual Federal andState appropriations and revenues, as needed, that fund full implementation of the RecoveryActions identified within this opinion. This includes both capital funding and annual base funding.Capital funding is for planning, design, permitting or other compliance, construction, constructionmanagement, replacement of facilities, and the acquisition of interests in land or water, asnecessary to carry out the Recovery Program. These capital items include hatchery additions forthe genetic conservation and propagation of the endangered fishes, the restoration of floodplainhabitat, fish passage, acquisition of water for instream flows (water leases), and the removal ortranslocation of nonnative fishes. Capital funding of up to $62,000,000 for the Recovery Programis to continue through the year 2005. These activities are substantially cost shared with non-Federal contributions by Upper Basin States and power users.Base funding is for the operation and maintenance of capital projects, implementation of RecoveryActions other than capital projects, monitoring and research to evaluate the need for oreffectiveness of any recovery action, and program management, as necessary to carry out theRecovery Program. Base funding also includes annual funding provided by the Service,Reclamation, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming under the terms of the 1988 CooperativeAgreement. Base funding for the Recovery Program from power revenues will be up to$4,000,000 per year, adjusted for inflation.Existing and New DepletionsExisting depletions anticipated to continue into the future, addressed in this biological opinion,consist of Reclamation and non-Federal depletions as described in the Federal action on page 1.Existing project depletions are defined below. Only the amount of water that was depleted as ofSeptember 30, 1995, is considered an existing use or depletion of water, except as defined forGreen Mountain and Ruedi Reservoirs below. Project depletions above this level are considered17