| Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Plan www.lcrmscp.org Today, the Colorado River supplies vital water and power resources for millions of people in Arizona, California, and Nevada. Recently, concerns have been raised about the reliability of these water and power resources following the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 1994 designation of critical habitat for four endangered fish species in the Colorado River Basin.
The Lower Colorado River Multi–Species Conservation Program (LCRMSCP) will work toward the recovery of listed species through habitat and species conservation. Furthermore, the LCRMSCP will attempt to reduce the likelihood of additional species listings under the ESA.
The long–term program will also accommodate current water diversions and power production in addition to optimizing opportunities for future water and power development.
Implementation will last for a 50–year period, in which the program will address future federal agency consultation needs under ESA Section 7, and non–federal agency needs for endangered species incidental take authorization approval under the Act’s Section 10.
Over a three to five–year planning period, interim conservation measures will be implemented addressing critical needs for certain endangered species. These measures benefit the endangered razorback sucker, bonytail chub, Southwestern willow flycatcher, and Yuma Clapper rail. They were initiated in the first three years and will continue until the Plan is completed and implemented.
The LCRMSCP covers the mainstem of the lower Colorado River from below Glen Canyon Dam to the Southerly International Boundary with Mexico.
More than 100 federal or state listed, candidate, and sensitive species will be addressed along with their associated habitats, ranging from aquatic and wetland areas to riparian habitats and upland areas.
California Biodiversity News: Volume 9, Number 1 |
In response, representatives of the three states, along with various stakeholders and water and power agencies along the lower Colorado, have formed a regional partnership. They are developing a first–of–its kind multi–species conservation program aimed at protecting sensitive, threatened, and endangered species as well as their habitat. The partnership has formed a 27–member steering committee, which has been designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an Ecosystem Conservation and Recovery Implementation Team under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).