U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

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H.R. 4465, ‘‘ENDANGERED FISH RECOVERY PROGRAMS EXTENSION 

ACT OF 2017’’ 

LEGISLATIVE HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER, POWER AND OCEANS 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

Wednesday, December 6, 2017 

Serial No. 115–31 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov 

or 

Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES 

ROB BISHOP, UT, Chairman 

RAU ́ L M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Ranking Democratic Member 

Don Young, AK 

Chairman Emeritus 

Louie Gohmert, TX 

Vice Chairman 

Doug Lamborn, CO 

Robert J. Wittman, VA 

Tom McClintock, CA 

Stevan Pearce, NM 

Glenn Thompson, PA 

Paul A. Gosar, AZ 

Rau ́l R. Labrador, ID 

Scott R. Tipton, CO 

Doug LaMalfa, CA 

Jeff Denham, CA 

Paul Cook, CA 

Bruce Westerman, AR 

Garret Graves, LA 

Jody B. Hice, GA 

Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, AS 

Darin LaHood, IL 

Daniel Webster, FL 

Jack Bergman, MI 

Liz Cheney, WY 

Mike Johnson, LA 

Jenniffer Gonza ́lez-Colo ́n, PR 

Greg Gianforte, MT 

Grace F. Napolitano, CA 

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, GU 

Jim Costa, CA 

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, CNMI 

Niki Tsongas, MA 

Jared Huffman, CA 

Vice Ranking Member 

Alan S. Lowenthal, CA 

Donald S. Beyer, Jr., VA 

Norma J. Torres, CA 

Ruben Gallego, AZ 

Colleen Hanabusa, HI 

Nanette Diaz Barraga ́n, CA 

Darren Soto, FL 

A. Donald McEachin, VA 

Anthony G. Brown, MD 

Wm. Lacy Clay, MO 

Jimmy Gomez, CA 

Cody Stewart, Chief of Staff 

Lisa Pittman, Chief Counsel 

David Watkins, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER, POWER AND OCEANS 

DOUG LAMBORN, CO, Chairman 

JARED HUFFMAN, CA, Ranking Democratic Member 

Robert J. Wittman, VA 

Tom McClintock, CA 

Paul A. Gosar, AZ 

Doug LaMalfa, CA 

Jeff Denham, CA 

Garret Graves, LA 

Jody B. Hice, GA 

Daniel Webster, FL 

Vice Chairman 

Mike Johnson, LA 

Greg Gianforte, MT 

Rob Bishop, UT, ex officio 

Grace F. Napolitano, CA 

Jim Costa, CA 

Donald S. Beyer, Jr., VA 

Nanette Diaz Barraga ́n, CA 

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, GU 

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, CNMI 

Jimmy Gomez, CA 

Rau ́l M. Grijalva, AZ, ex officio 

(III) 

CONTENTS 

Page 

Hearing held on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 ................................................... 1 

Statement of Members: 

Huffman, Hon. Jared, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

California ....................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 5 

Lamborn, Hon. Doug, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Colorado ......................................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 3 

Statement of Witnesses: 

Colosimo, Andrew, Government and Corporate Affairs Manager, Colorado 

Springs Utilities, Colorado Springs, Colorado ............................................ 25 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 27 

Curtis, Hon. John R., a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Utah ............................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 7 

Hague, Jimmy, Senior Water Policy Advisor, The Nature Conservancy, 

Arlington, Virginia ........................................................................................ 21 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 23 

Maddux, Henry, Director, Recovery Programs, Utah Department of 

Natural Resources, Salt Lake City, Utah ................................................... 9 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 10 

Additional Materials Submitted for the Record: 

List of documents submitted for the record retained in the Committee’s 

official files .................................................................................................... 33 

(1) 

LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 4465, TO 

MAINTAIN ANNUAL BASE FUNDING FOR 

THE UPPER COLORADO AND SAN JUAN 

FISH RECOVERY PROGRAMS THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2023, TO REQUIRE A REPORT ON 

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THOSE PROGRAMS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, 

‘‘ENDANGERED FISH RECOVERY PROGRAMS 

EXTENSION ACT OF 2017’’ 

Wednesday, December 6, 2017 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans 

Committee on Natural Resources 

Washington, DC 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in room 

1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Doug Lamborn 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Lamborn, LaMalfa, Bishop (ex officio); 

Huffman, and Barraga ́n. 

Mr. LAMBORN. The Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans 

will come to order. The Water, Power and Oceans Subcommittee 

meets today to hear testimony on H.R. 4465, sponsored by 

Representative John Curtis of Utah. 

Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements at hearings are limited to the Chairman, Ranking Minority Member, and 

the Vice Chair. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that all other 

Members’ opening statements be made part of the hearing record, 

if they are submitted to the Subcommittee Clerk by 5 p.m. today. 

Hearing no objection, so ordered. 

We will begin with opening statements, starting with myself, for 

5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. DOUG LAMBORN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO 

Mr. LAMBORN. Today, we will consider H.R. 4465, the 

Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 2017, sponsored by our new colleague from Utah, John Curtis, and joined by 

a bipartisan group of co-sponsors from the affected states, including 

myself. 

Authorized in 1956, the Colorado River Storage Project, or CRSP, 

paved the way for the development and utilization of the water resources in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. 

With a total storage capacity of more than 30 million acre-feet, and 

the capability to generate over 5 billion megawatt-hours of energy 

2 

annually, the CRSP is vital to the economies of the Upper Basin 

states. 

Fourteen native fish species, including four listed as endangered 

under the Endangered Species Act, also call the Basin home. The 

threat of water and power restrictions resulting from these listings 

prompted the states to enter into cooperative agreements with the 

Federal Government, tribes, and other non-Federal partners, as 

well, to ensure the continued reliability of these projects. These 

agreements eventually led to the creation of the Upper Colorado 

and San Juan Recovery Implementation Programs. 

The 106th Congress enacted legislation to establish Federal participation and non-Federal cost share, including the authority to 

use CRSP power revenues, to support these two programs. These 

agreements continue to ensure ESA compliance for the more than 

2,300 water and power projects in the five-state region, while also 

promoting the goals of recovery for the four endangered species. 

In 2012, Congress reauthorized the authorization of the agreement and the use of these revenues through 2019, but also included important reforms to reduce overhead expenses and agency 

travel in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being devoted 

to fish recovery, not Federal bureaucrats. This reauthorization continues this congressional oversight to ensure that the program is 

transparent and trending toward recovery of the species. 

H.R. 4465 extends the use of CRSP power revenues to be used 

through 2023, which also happens to fall in line with the recovery 

deadline for these programs. In addition, the bill requires a report 

to ensure that expenditures and actions are helping to recover 

these species. 

We must not lose fact of the end goal of this program, to recover 

and get these four species de-listed. I am hopeful that at the conclusion of this reauthorization, we will have accomplished that 

goal. 

Before I conclude, I would like to welcome Mr. Andy Colosimo 

back to the Committee. Andy is from my home state of Colorado. 

He has more than 30 years of experience at the local, state, and 

Federal level dealing with these issues, and worked on the original 

enacting legislation for the recovery program as a staffer in the 

Senate. 

I would also like to extend a special welcome to our new colleague, Congressman John Curtis of Utah. As former mayor of 

Provo, Utah, Congressman Curtis knows firsthand how these 

ground-up, collaborative programs create certainty for water and 

power users, and support local economic activity. Without the 

threat of litigation, through this program, the CRSP has achieved 

a balance between supporting species and local communities. 

I want to give a personal introduction to Mr. Curtis, he is the 

newest Member of Congress, as you all may know. And as been reported in the press, he has an extensive sock collection. In fact, he 

will go toe to toe with anyone as to who has the best socks around. 

In such a match-up, he might hose you, or you might just knock 

him back on his heels. But whatever the outcome, he won’t lose his 

cool. He doesn’t swear. The worst thing anyone has ever heard him 

say is ‘‘darn it.’’ 

3 

With that, I am going to thank all our witnesses for being here 

today. I look forward to hearing your testimony. Although the 

Administration is unable to be here today, I appreciate their willingness to submit a statement for the official hearing record. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Lamborn follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. DOUG LAMBORN, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON

WATER, POWER AND OCEANS

Today, we will consider H.R. 4465, the ‘‘Endangered Species Fish Recovery 

Program Extension Act of 2017’’ sponsored by our new colleague from Utah, John 

Curtis, and joined by a bipartisan group of co-sponsors from the affected states, including myself. 

Authorized in 1956, the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), paved the way for 

the development and utilization of the water resources in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, 

Arizona, and New Mexico. With a total storage capacity of more than 30 million 

acre-feet, and the capability to generate over 5 billion megawatt-hours of energy 

annually, the CRSP is vital to the economies of the Upper Basin states. 

Fourteen native fish species—including four listed as ‘endangered’ under the 

Endangered Species Act—also call the Basin home. The threat of water and power 

restrictions resulting from these listings prompted the states to enter into cooperative agreements with the Federal Government, tribes, and other non-Federal 

partners to ensure the continued reliability of these projects. These agreements 

eventually led to the creation of the Upper Colorado and San Juan Recovery 

Implementation Programs. 

The 106th Congress enacted legislation to establish Federal participation and 

non-Federal cost share, including the authority to use CRSP power revenues, to support these two programs. These agreements continue to ensure ESA compliance for 

the more than 2,300 water and power projects in the five-state region, while also 

promoting the goals of recovery for the four endangered fish species. 

In 2012, Congress reauthorized the authorization of the agreement and the use 

of these revenues through 2019, but also included important reforms to reduce overhead expenses and agency travel in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being 

devoted to fish recovery—not Federal bureaucrats. This reauthorization continues 

this congressional oversight to ensure that the program is transparent and trending 

toward recovery of the species. 

H.R. 4465 extends the use of CRSP power revenues to be used through 2023, 

which also happens to fall in line with the recovery deadline for these programs. 

In addition, the bill requires a report to ensure that expenditures and actions are 

helping to recover these species. 

We must not lose fact of the end goal of this program: recover and get these four 

species de-listed. I am hopeful that at the conclusion of this reauthorization we will 

have accomplished that goal. 

Before I conclude, I would like to welcome Mr. Andy Colosimo back to the 

Committee. Andy is from my home state of Colorado and has more than 30 years 

of experience at the local, state and Federal level dealing with these issues. And 

he worked on the original enacting legislation for this recovery program as a staffer 

in the Senate. 

I would also like to extend a special welcome to our new colleague, Congressman 

John Curtis of Utah. As former Mayor of Provo, Utah, Congressman Curtis knows 

firsthand how these ground-up, collaborative programs create certainty for water 

and power users and support local economic activity. Without the threat of litigation, through this program the CRSP has achieved a balance between supporting 

species and local communities. 

I want to thank all of our witnesses for being with us today and I look forward 

to hearing from you all. Due to a conflict with another hearing that is happening 

on the Senate side this morning, the Administration is unable to be here today, but 

we appreciate their willingness to submit a statement for the official hearing record. 

Mr. LAMBORN. I now recognize the Ranking Member for 5 

minutes for his statement. 

4 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JARED HUFFMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome and congratulations, Congressman Curtis. Do you want to show us your 

socks today? 

Mr. CURTIS. I would defer to the Ranking Member and Chairman 

as to whether or not you want me to put my feet up on this table. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Well, it is good to have you, and I am delighted 

to be part of a hearing that is focused on a bill that we can all feel 

good about supporting. What a great way to start your career in 

Congress, helping move forward a strongly bipartisan piece of consensus legislation. If only this place worked that way all the time, 

but it is a great way to start. 

And quite a contrast from what we saw in the Subcommittee last 

week where we had another piece of legislative work that had been 

carefully brought along for years. A stakeholder consensus involving the Yakima Basin, and unfortunately, it was conjoined with a 

very controversial piece of legislation, and we were prevented from 

moving forward in a bipartisan consensus way. Sometimes we get 

it wrong, sometimes we get it right. I applaud you and I applaud 

this Subcommittee for bringing us this stand-alone bill. 

We want to help support recovery of the four endangered species 

in the Upper Colorado and the San Juan Rivers. This is a program 

that brings together water users, environmental groups, tribes, 

local utilities, and the state and Federal agencies, that we need to 

work together to find ways to ensure water and power users needs 

are met in a sustainable way, that also accounts for species protection under the ESA. These are exactly the kind of partnerships 

that I strongly believe we need to support, and not the more controversial partisan attempts. 

Over the past few decades, these recovery programs in the Upper 

Colorado Basin have kept these unique fish alive. That is no small 

feat. I applaud the many partners who are represented here today, 

including our witnesses that work together to make sure that more 

species are not lost to extinction. 

I also want to support and recognize the work of recovery programs thus far, while acknowledging that we also need to address 

the underlying cause of native species lost in the Colorado River 

Basin. This is a highly altered river ecosystem, obviously, and a 

dwindling water supply. In addition to the important habitat it provides for a wide range of species, this river obviously does a lot of 

work. It provides water for nearly 40 million people across seven 

states, in addition to Mexico. It provides irrigation to millions of 

acres of land, and power for millions of people and hundreds of 

local communities. It is a valuable resource to more than 20 tribes, 

and, of course, it supports the outdoor recreation economy across 

the region. 

It is very important, I think, to recognize that the Colorado River 

Basin is experiencing an unprecedented drought and has been 

since the year 2000, the worst in the past 100 years, some say the 

worst in 1,000 years, which threatens endangered species, the ecosystem, and roughly 1 in 10 Americans who rely on this watershed. 

We have already seen dramatic changes in this basin as a result 

of the drought. In March 2017, we had some of the warmest 

5 

weather in history, temperatures almost 9 degrees above the historic average. This has serious implications for the snowpack in the 

Upper Basin, which supplies 90 percent of the water for the already strained system, where more water is taken from the reservoirs than is replenished every year. So, we have some challenges 

in the Colorado River Basin, and they are reflected in the similar 

challenges that we face throughout the West because of the drier, 

hotter climate. 

We are going to need to support these kinds of broad stakeholder 

efforts, to come together to make compromises to find sustainable 

policies that balance interests and bring us to solutions that we can 

all support. Today is an important step in that direction. 

I am glad to be with everyone. Mr. Chairman, thanks for this 

hearing. I look forward to supporting this bill. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Huffman follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. JARED HUFFMAN, RANKING MEMBER, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER, POWER AND OCEANS

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I appreciate that the focus of today’s hearing is a bipartisan bill that recognizes 

the importance of stakeholder collaboration and balances the environment with 

water and power needs. It is a stark contrast from the Majority’s tactics in this 

Subcommittee last week, when we discussed a one-sided bill that attacked environmental laws and diminished the years-long efforts that went into the Yakima Basin 

Plan. 

H.R. 4465 reauthorizes funding for programs to help recover four endangered 

species within the Upper Colorado and San Juan Rivers. These programs bring together water users, environmental groups, tribes, local utilities, and state and 

Federal agencies to find ways to ensure water and power needs are met in a sustainable way that accounts for species protected under the Endangered Species Act. 

We need exactly these types of partnerships, not so-called streamlining, so that the 

significant impacts of power generation and water supply don’t lead to the extinction of native fish species in the Colorado River. 

Over the last few decades, the recovery programs in the Upper Colorado Basin 

have kept these unique fish alive. It is no small feat, and I applaud the many partners, including our witnesses here today, who have worked to make sure more 

species aren’t lost to extinction. We face many similar challenges in California and 

I understand the significant effort and cooperation that’s required from everyone involved. These programs in the Upper Colorado River Basin have made progress toward addressing some major threats to these endangered fish species, including 

mitigating non-native species and instream flow management. 

Although I support the bill and recognize the work of the recovery programs thus 

far, we must also address the underlying causes of native species loss in the 

Colorado River Basin: a highly altered river ecosystem and dwindling water supply. 

In addition to the important habitat it provides for a wide range of species, the 

Colorado River Basin supplies water to nearly 40 million people across seven states 

in addition to Mexico. It provides irrigation to millions of acres of land and power 

for millions of people and hundreds of local communities. It is also a valuable resource to more than 20 tribes and to the outdoor recreation economy across the 

region. 

In addition, it is especially concerning that the Colorado River Basin has been experiencing an unprecedented drought since 2000. It is the worst drought in the past 

100 years and one of the worst in the past 1,000 years, threatening endangered 

species, the ecosystem, and the roughly 1 in 10 Americans who rely on it. We’ve 

already seen dramatic changes in the Colorado River Basin as a result of this 

drought. In March 2017, the warmest in history, the temperatures were almost 9 

degrees above the historic average. This has serious implications for the snowpack 

in the Upper Basin, which supplies nearly 90 percent of the water for the already 

strained system, where more water is taken from the reservoirs than is replenished 

each year. Unfortunately, research shows that we should prepare for a future that 

includes more frequent and extreme droughts, like the current one, as a result of 

climate change. 

6 

A drier, hotter climate in the West will make it more difficult than it already is 

to meet user and environmental water needs in the future. With less water, more 

people, and increasingly threatened species, it will be critical to address ways to restore ecosystems and modernize water infrastructure, rather than keeping the 

status quo. In addition to this bill, we should focus on water reuse, recycling, 

removing aging and obsolete dams, and other new ways to meet the water needs 

of growing populations while ensuring a healthy environment for future generations. 

If not, our rivers may become nothing more than holding tanks and we’ll have to 

keep endangered species on life support indefinitely. I don’t think anyone here 

wants to see that happen. 

I am encouraged, albeit surprised, that several of my colleagues from the other 

side of the dais are co-sponsors of this bill. In the past, there have been endless 

claims from the Majority that this kind of species specific recovery approach does 

not work. I’d argue that it does, given that these four fish and 99 percent of all listed species under the ESA are still around. But it would make it much easier to recover species with sufficient funding and without continued attempts by Committee 

Republicans to weaken the Endangered Species Act. If the four endangered species 

addressed in this bill are important enough for funding, I hope we can later talk 

about why the rest of them are too. 

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to hearing 

from you. 

I yield back. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you. I also look forward to more 

bipartisanship as you agree with us on some of our legislation. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Is that how bipartisanship works? We surrender. 

Mr. LAMBORN. We will now move to our first witness panel to 

hear testimony from Mr. Curtis on his bill. As a reminder, you are 

limited to 5 minutes, but your written statement will appear in full 

in the hearing record. 

Mr. Curtis, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOHN R. CURTIS, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF UTAH 

Mr. CURTIS. Thank you, Chairman Lamborn, and Ranking 

Member Huffman, for not only considering this bill, but for your 

kindness to me as a new Member being here and your hospitality. 

Thank you very much. 

I do celebrate today my 3-week-and-2-day anniversary. And I 

bring that up primarily to emphasize that there is no way that I 

could be here with a bill of this quality without a lot of help, and 

I would like to acknowledge Chairman Bishop and his staff for the 

many years of work that have gone before me, not just on this bill, 

but on the many natural resource issues. Thank you for your help 

in preparing this bill. 

I would also like to acknowledge that this is a bipartisan effort, 

and I am pleased that it is supported by a group of nonpartisan 

Representatives from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, 

who have joined me as co-sponsors on this bill, and I think that is 

very important as well. 

I would also like to acknowledge Henry Maddux. Henry is the 

Director of the Recovery Program for the Utah Department of 

Natural Resources. He has traveled to be here with us today, and 

I would like to give him a special shout-out. He will end his illustrious career at the end of this year and will be retiring. I appreciate his many years of service to the state of Utah. 

7 

We all know how important water is to the vitality of any community, but especially for rural communities in the dry desert 

climates of the West. This bill is extremely important to my 

district, because these recovery programs ensure that people in our 

rural communities continue to have access to critical water resources for everything from irrigation to recreation. The bipartisan 

Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act extends the 

authorization to use Upper Colorado River Basin Fund revenues 

for annual base funding of fish recovery programs on the Upper 

Colorado River and San Juan Rivers. 

These recovery programs for the pikeminnow, humpback chub, 

razorback sucker, and bonytail were last authorized in 2012. 

Interestingly, I learned as I studied this, that the pikeminnow is 

not really a minnow, it is a fish that grows to 6 feet. And, 

Chairman, as you talked about our eventual goal of getting these 

off the endangered species list, imagine for recreation enthusiasts, 

the ability to fish for a 6-foot fish in these rivers. It is very exciting. 

My bill would extend the authorization through 2023. I think it 

is worth noting that these programs do not cost taxpayers any 

money, because they are completely funded by fees collected from 

the water users. Additionally, the bill provides some oversight and 

accountability by requiring the Interior Secretary to submit a report to Congress in consultation with the participants in the recovery implementation programs, describing the accomplishments and 

the cost of these programs. 

I recently had a chance to travel to Moab firsthand to meet the 

residents and local officials and representatives from Utah’s 

Division of Natural Resources to learn more about these endangered fish species and the recovery programs. During my visit, I 

came to better understand that not only do these recovery programs help to protect these threatened and endangered fish 

species, but they also make it possible for Utahans and many in 

surrounding states and people throughout the region to have continual access to use these waterways. 

By being proactive about the recovery of threatened fish species, 

we ensure that important water projects can continue on the Upper 

River Colorado and San Juan Rivers. 

To close, this bill is extremely important to the economics of 

many in the rural parts of my congressional district and throughout the West, and I hope the Committee will report it favorably. 

Thank you very much. I yield my time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Curtis follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOHN R. CURTIS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF UTAH

Chairman Lamborn, I would like to thank you and Ranking Member Huffman for 

holding this hearing on my bill today. As many of you know, I was elected to 

Congress less than a month ago, and this bill just happens to be the first piece of 

legislation I introduced. That said, I would like to thank my good friend and fellow 

Utahn, Chairman Rob Bishop, and his staff for their hard work and assistance on 

this bill. I would also like to thank the bipartisan group of nine Representatives 

from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico that have joined with me as cosponsors. 

We all know how important water is to the vitality of any community—especially 

for rural communities in the dry desert climates of the West. This bill is extremely 

important to my district, because these recovery programs ensure that people in our 

8 

rural communities continue to have access to critical water sources for everything 

from irrigation to recreation. 

The bipartisan Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act extends the 

authorization to use upper Colorado River Basin Fund Revenues for annual base 

funding of fish recovery programs on the Upper Colorado River and San Juan 

Rivers. These recovery programs for the pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback 

sucker, and bonytail were last reauthorized in 2012 and are set to expire in 2019. 

My bill would extend the authorization through 2023. I think it is worth noting that 

these programs do not cost taxpayers any money, because they are completely funded by fees collected from water users. 

Additionally, the bill provides some oversight and accountability by requiring the 

Interior Secretary to submit a report to Congress, in consultation with the participants in the recovery implementation programs, describing the accomplishments 

and costs of these programs. 

I recently went down to Moab, Utah to meet with the residents, local officials, and 

representatives from the Utah Division of Natural Resources to learn more about 

these endangered fish species recovery programs. During my visit, I came to better 

understand that not only do these recovery programs help to protect these threatened and endangered fish species, they also make it possible for Utahns and people 

throughout this region to continue to access and use their waterways. By being 

proactive about the recovery of threatened fish species, we ensure that important 

water projects can continue on in the Upper Colorado and San Juan Rivers. 

To close, this bill is extremely important to the economies of many of the rural 

parts of my congressional district and throughout the West, and I hope that this 

Committee will report it favorably. 

Thank you. 

Mr. LAMBORN. You are welcome. Thank you for your testimony. 

You are welcome to join us for the remainder of the hearing, but 

if you have to meet other obligations, we will understand and you 

will be excused. 

I now want to call forward our second panel of witnesses. I will 

introduce them as they are coming forward to take their seats. Our 

first witness is Mr. Henry Maddux, Director of Recovery Programs 

for the Utah Department of Natural Resources from Salt Lake 

City, Utah; our second witness is Mr. Jimmy Hague, Senior Water 

Policy Advisor for The Nature Conservancy from Arlington, 

Virginia; and our final witness is Mr. Andrew Colosimo, Government and Corporate Affairs Manager for Colorado Springs Utilities 

from Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

Thank you all for taking the time to be here. Each witness’ 

written testimony will appear in full in the hearing record. I ask 

that witnesses keep their oral statements to 5 minutes, as outlined 

in our invitation letter to you, and under Committee Rule 4(a). I 

will explain how the timing lights work. Andy, I know you know 

how these work, because you testified before. When you are recognized, press the talk button to activate the microphone. Once you 

begin your testimony, the Clerk will start the timer and it will 

count down from 5 minutes to 0. At 4 minutes, the yellow light 

comes on. I would ask that you begin to conclude your statement 

at that time, and to finish when it counts down to 0 and the red 

light comes on. 

Mr. Maddux, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. 

9 

STATEMENT OF HENRY MADDUX, DIRECTOR, RECOVERY 

PROGRAMS, UTAH DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, 

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 

Mr. MADDUX. Thank you, Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member 

Huffman, and members of the Subcommittee for the opportunity to 

testify in support of H.R. 4465. I am Henry Maddux. I am Director 

of Recovery Programs for Utah’s Department of Natural Resources. 

I also am Utah’s Representative on the Upper Basin Colorado 

River Program, and serve as Chair of that Committee. 

H.R. 4465 amends Public Law 106–392 by extending the authorization of the use of Colorado River Storage Project, also known as 

CRSP, hydropower revenues through 2023 for annual funding of 

both the Upper Colorado River, Fish Recovery Program, and the 

San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program. 

As mentioned by Representative Curtis, a report is also required 

through this amendment from the Secretary of the Interior to the 

Subcommittee by the end of Fiscal Year 2021. Public Law 106–392 

authorizes Federal cost-sharing for the two recovery programs for 

capital projects and use of CRSP hydropower revenues for annual 

funding. The law recognizes substantial cost-sharing by the states, 

power customers, and water users. We also have in-kind contributions by many of the other participants of the recovery programs. 

These non-Federal cost-sharing commitments will continue through 

2023. 

CRSP hydropower revenues are a critical source of funding for 

the recovery programs. These power revenues fund maintenance 

and operation of many of our capital projects, including fish passages, fish screens, bottomland projects, hatcheries, research, and 

monitoring. These science-based activities are critical to achieving 

our dual goals of: Number one, recovering the four endangered fish; 

and Number two, continued support of development and use of 

water resources in compliance with state water law and interstate 

compacts. 

Both the Upper Colorado River and San Juan River fish programs were established to eliminate conflicts between water use 

and species recovery for Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, 

humpback chub, and bonytail. 

We saw that collaboration was a better path than litigation. This 

collaboration began in the Upper Colorado River Basin in 1988 by 

a cooperative agreement between the Secretary of the Interior; the 

states of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming; and the Western Area 

Power Administration. Other full members of the program include: 

CRSP power customers, represented by Colorado River Energy 

Distributors Association; water users from the three states; and environmental organizations represented by The Nature Conservancy 

and Western Resource Advocates. We also have other Federal 

members, including Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, 

and Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The San Juan Program, likewise, was established in 1992 by 

cooperative agreement between the Secretary, the Navajo Nation, 

Ute Mountain Ute, the Southern Ute Tribe, and the Jicarilla 

Apache Nation, along with the other Federal entities. An example 

of the effectiveness of this program can be demonstrated in Grand 

Junction, Colorado, a place commonly referred to as the 15-mile 

10 

reach. Historically, this reach of river dried up due to both Federal 

and non-Federal irrigation diversions. It is considered critical habitat for the endangered fish, as well as an important spawning area. 

Through collaboration and voluntary contributions, over 1 million 

acre-feet of water has now been delivered to that reach of river. It 

no longer goes dry, and supports the recovery of these fish. To date, 

these two recovery programs have provided Endangered Species 

Act compliance for 2,500 projects, many of those in my home state 

of Utah, that support agriculture, energy development, recreation, 

as well as diversion to the Wasatch Front, where the majority of 

our population lives. 

The program has strong support among all the participants. I believe I can speak on behalf of the non-Federal program participants 

in requesting the support of the Subcommittee for H.R. 4465. I 

would note that an identical bill has been introduced in the Senate. 

Once again, I thank the Chairman, Ranking Member, and 

Subcommittee members, for the opportunity to testify. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Maddux follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HENRY MADDUX, DIRECTOR, RECOVERY PROGRAMS, UTAH

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Thank you Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member Huffman and members of the 

Subcommittee for the opportunity to testify in support of H.R. 4465. I am Director, 

Recovery Programs, Utah Department of Natural Resources. I serve as Utah’s 

representative on the Management Committee, Upper Colorado River Endangered 

Species Recovery Program and I am chairman of that committee. 

H.R. 4465 amends Public Law 106–392 by extending the authorization through 

Fiscal Year 2023 for use of hydroelectric power revenues from the Colorado River 

Storage Projects (CRSP) for annual funding of the Upper Colorado River 

Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San Juan River Basin Recovery 

Implementation Program. The authorization extends the currently authorized levels 

of annual funding. A report by the Secretary of the Interior is required to be submitted to Congress in Fiscal Year 2021 with recommendations for funding beyond 

Fiscal Year 2023. Any funding beyond Fiscal Year 2023 requires authorization by 

Congress. 

Public Law 106–392 became law in 2000. The law authorizes Federal cost-sharing 

for the two recovery programs for capital projects and use of CRSP power revenues 

for annual funding. The law recognizes substantial cost-sharing by states of Utah, 

Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, power customers, and water users. In-kind 

contributions are also made by other participants in the recovery programs. These 

non-Federal cost sharing contributions will continue through 2023. Congress has extended the Federal authority both in amount and time with amendments to P.L. 

106–392 on three other occasions with strong bipartisan support. The authorization 

for expenditures on capital projects currently extends through 2023. Capital project 

expenditures are also cost shared. 

CRSP hydropower revenues are a critical source of cost sharing funds for the 

recovery programs. Hydropower revenues fund operation and maintenance of capital 

facilities including fish passages, fish screens, hatcheries, bottomland habitat, research, and monitoring. These activities are critical to achieving the goals of the 

recovery programs—recovery of four endangered fish species while water development and management proceeds in compliance with state water and wildlife law, 

interstate compacts approved by Congress, authorizations for Bureau of Reclamation 

projects approved by Congress, and the Endangered Species Act. 

Both the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basin Recovery Programs were 

established to eliminate potential conflicts among water development and management activities and protection and recovery of four endangered fish species— 

Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker, and bonytail. The species 

occupy the lower warm water reaches of the upper Colorado River Basin. 

The Upper Colorado River Recovery Program was established in 1988 by cooperative agreement among the Secretary the Interior, the governors of Colorado, Utah, 

and Wyoming, and Western Area Power Administration. Other participants include 

CRSP power customers, water users in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, and environVerDate Mar 15 2010 11:23 Jul 05, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 J:\115TH CONGRESS\WATER & POWER\12-06-17\27787.TXT DARLEN
11 

mental organizations represented by The Nature Conservancy and Western 

Resource Advocates. Participating Federal agencies include Bureau of Reclamation, 

Western Area Power Administration, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service. 

The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program was established in 

1992 By cooperative agreement among the Secretary of the Interior, the governors 

of Colorado and New Mexico, the Navajo Nation, Southern Ute Tribe, Ute Mountain 

Ute Tribe, and Jicarilla Apache Nation. Other participants include water users in 

Colorado and New Mexico, and environmental organizations represented by The 

Nature Conservancy. Participating Federal agencies include Bureau of Reclamation, 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service. 

Both programs have the objective of recovering and de-listing the endangered fish. 

Program activities address all causes of the endangerment including flow management, habitat development, non-native fish control, research and monitoring. 

Research and monitoring has resulted in the programs’ recovery actions being 

driven by sound science. 

In establishing these programs, it was agreed that there will be no taking of 

water from any water user or Reclamation contractor. In turn, water users, the 

states, and Reclamation agreed to find ways to provide water for endangered fish 

species consistent with state water law, interstate compacts, and Reclamation 

project authorizations. Water is provided for endangered fish through reoperation of 

Reclamation projects, improving efficiency of irrigation projects with saved water 

being made available to endangered fish habitat, coordinated reservoir operations 

to enhance spring peak flows without jeopardizing reservoir yields, and participation 

in the reservoir expansion with storage capacity dedicated to endangered fish. These 

efforts to cooperatively and voluntarily provide water for endangered fish would not 

happen without the recovery programs. 

An example of the effectiveness of the cooperative approach to providing water is 

found on the Colorado River near Grand Junction. Historically, the 15-mile reach 

of the river was often dried up due to depletions by Federal and non-Federal irrigation projects holding senior water rights. This reach of the river is in designated 

critical habitat for the endangered fish. Since 1997, more than 1 million acre-feet 

of water has been delivered to this reach to benefit endangered fish. There are many 

other examples of significant voluntary and cooperative provision of water to endangered fish throughout the basin. The dollar value of this water, which has not been 

estimated, in my opinion very likely exceeds the total cost of the two programs. 

In evaluating impacts of existing and new water projects on the endangered fish 

as required by the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reviews 

the actions taken by the recovery programs to protect and recover the species to determine if those actions offset project impacts. To date, the Service has found that 

program actions both at the impact approximately 2,500 water projects in the Upper 

Colorado and San Juan River Basins, including every Reclamation project upstream 

of Lake Powell. There have been no lawsuits filed regarding Endangered Species Act 

compliance under the recovery programs. Furthermore, compliance with the 

Endangered Species Act has been streamlined for Federal agencies, water users, 

and the Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The recovery programs have greatly improved the status of endangered fish 

species. Since the inception of the programs, populations of endangered fish have 

increased in the two river basins. The Service will prepare 5-year status reviews of 

three of the species in 2018. The status reviews may lead to down-listing of the 

species from endangered to threatened. 

The programs have strong grassroots support among all participants including 

water users, the states, tribes, power customers, and environmental organizations. 

Many of these organizations have submitted letters of support to the Subcommittee 

for H.R. 4465. 

Due to the success of the programs and strong grassroots support, the programs 

have had the support of five presidential administrations. P.L. 106–392 and subsequent amendments have had strong bipartisan support in Congress. I believe I can 

speak on behalf of all the non-Federal program participants in requesting the support of the Subcommittee for H.R. 4465. I would note that an identical bill (S. 2166) 

has been introduced by Senator Gardner with bipartisan support. 

Once again, I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for the opportunity to 

testify. I would be happy to answer any questions regarding my testimony. 

12 

***** 

ATTACHMENT 


27787.001.eps
13 


27787.002.eps

Recovery Progress Report 

Species 

Colorado pikeminnow 

li~tM :I.S End:~ngn-«1 in 1967: rt=CO\'tt')' nn 

occur ln the- Upper &sin. 

Wild. sel(·.sll$tlining popubtion.s ~ 

manag_af in Grtm \lnd Colorado ri,·t:rs. 

Color..do pikrmim1ow proclut«l Ot hltChrr· 

it:s arr stocked in du~ Sm j uan Ri~·er. 

Humpback cbub 

ListM :u: d:u~a-ffi in 1967: ra:owtry il 

rtquir«<. in both Upprr :and Lower ~asins. 

Wild. stl(-su.scuning popuU,ions :1u mm· 

oag«J in multiplr oc:~tions in tht Uppt:r :and 

lowtrbuin. 

Ra::orbac.k sucker 

Listtd<ts Encbngered ln 1991: rtcovery ts n:quirtd in both Upprr -and lowC'T b:a5irt$. 

A wild. stlf-susuinlng population residt:S 

in Lake .'vt~; h1tt:hrry fish 1rc $1;odc,M in 

other Lowtr Buin locui;:> ~ 

Ruorb3clc Sl.u:ker n ised in hatdltries are 

stodctd in m:lny Upptr Basin riwrs. 

Bony mil 

Lisud a.s End<tnstrtd ln 1980: r tcO\'t:f'Y is 

required in both Upprr ;tr)d Lower b::asin$. 

Population Status 

Adtdl~ tn the Colo~o and Grtf:n r~·ttt 

havt:dtchntd in tht past dtcadt: ~YqU.it-ing 

intruud dforc to: a) rMurc nonn""civr 

pr«btors: ..and b) lmpr•wr N~ Bow m;m:.st:mt:m to in(TQSC: survi,·al or young 

Color .. do pikaninnow. 

~tchtry C.$h are :~ umul:.ning lll~~ 

sp2wning in the Sw Ju~n Ri,•t:r. 

4 of 5 Upptr B:~.sln popuJ;n.iOil$ ha\'t su· 

biliztd afttr dtdine:s wtn dt:ttcttd in tht: 

bu· 1'.)90'~. Tilt: fif1h popub1ion (Yal'npl 

Ril'tr} :~ppnrs to h:~vt bt:tn Jo..q, 

In tht: lower Basin, a popul;uion nnr tht: 

Litdt: Col~do Ri'\•tr is dolng very wdL 

(o tht:: Upper Basin. stockt:d :adults out 

X"cumub1ins, in Colondo, Gr«n, :and 

S>ln Ju.m rh't:rs and in d1t inRows to Lalu 

Powell. 

L1rht: Lo-·u 81sin, d1t only wild. stlfSU. 'linir~ popul:uion is found in L.akc 

Mad :lnd tht lowtr GN~nd C:myon. 

Posniw trtnds for dJis sp«'cs .arc 

ttpotltd throusJ.loul tht Color.xlo R.i,•u. 

Programs rous o~.u the Upper and 

Lowtt Nsiru.ttbuad popubttl.ln.s with 

h:ttdtcrylisf'-

5p2wning in tht wild dt:ttettd (or tht: 6tst 

dmt:: ln Grrtn River Ooodpl:airu in 2015 

(:md:ag:~inin 20 16}. 

USWFS Pending 

Recover Decisions 

A SJ>(cits St")tuS A$.."ns.11tCIU (SSA) I 

initiaud in l.:ut: 20 1 Sand schtdultd 

for COmJ>Itrion in 2017. 

Rtant popubtion dt:di.nes could 

dday clownlistin~ 2 

SSA inicU1ed in ~r y 2016 :and 

schtdulrd for complttioo in 2017. 

long urn1 ~l:lbilily in mou popul:a· 

tions could 11!0\d to a downlist:ing 

d«asion fn thC' near futur('. 

An SSA for this sp«if:s is schtdukd 

ror completion in 2017. 

Oown].isdng could occur wbtn 

1'2ZOrb:ack su<-kcr d('mon.Str.nc lhC' 

:~b lity to c-omplttt )j(t cydrs in wild. 

When survi\·"1 of $t.X:krd li.sh 

imptO\'t!l :md bo yuil.st.:~ n 

<Or)1pltcing.their life cyck in wild, 

th...- Srn•ict wilt initiltt ~n SSA. 

I s,- in Scalll u~U nt: u (SS.A}CotllfltU.e dw-bn• .~v~ u.k Jnfornufiool'l un Jf'<'Ud nt.~t~. .cur~lll CO!..LI•MI. JI\J " ;at,1,ty. llu Suviu u ..... SSAc u rh .. r~Oon r~ ~· 

OUJ ESA .1mon1 (f·t;-·C'h''"n'" u11 ~t1a1 .. ). 

L)I)\l'!d A•~· n Jm tOl Co' &-• .,;""" IG>f'C'cl:ou:,ly 11\ rnJ on.l lro:4nlt J lhrnlrii...S"nrh.u.n.l 01\ rrJ.aurJ ndc ()( ~tn\fl' (loo\. 
14 


27787.003.eps

Nonnative Predators Delay Recovery 

in the Upper Colorado River 

P redacion or compecirion by noJmaci"e fish species is the p rimary threat to endangered fish reCO\'ery and 

the mou chnllenglns, thrt'at to m:mas,e. One hundrtd yt.ars ago onl)' 1; ativ~ fish species sw:un i1l r.ht Upper 

Colorado River and irs rrib01:aries - [Oday they have been joined by more chao 50 nonnati\•e species. The graphic 

below dtpicrs the spread of a few of <he moS< prtdaceous •nd invasive species <hroush d>e life of the Upper Colorodo and 

San juan Programs. 

River Presence of Invasive Species 

Colorado 

Gunnison 

Green 

White 

Yampa 

SanJuan 

Legend 

Program Inception Today 

Honhefn pike 

/Mt;'(l(}y{rshpfiO(t)(l)l.(rtt_syo(CMUmrt<ZSW~G~Sul\'t)'" 

'III'II.!C!rJ;fshpfiOtOaJUtttS;D Gon:fonE RDOrtt'YXl 

F.-s.~ r~t~srrot\OI'lS 0 JoSfpll k Tomt ill 
15 


27787.004.eps

Capital Projects Restore 

Endangered Fish Habitat 

The rccovt:ry programs work cooperatively with Amcriau ludiau tribe ~ w:ucr and power cu.nomers, and local 

landowners ro improve endangered fLSh hablrat. H;1bicar resroracion and mainttll.anct: includes re<:orultcting &ag~ 

men red river reaches through consrrucrio•\ a1ld operation of fish passages at irrig~uion dlversion dams; p•·evendng: fish 

from enrC1'lng and becoming ctapped in irri~cion diversion canals through GOIU-ttuccion and opel':'lrlon of fish scruns; and 

acquisition. rcsroration, and managemenr ofAoodpL1in habitat ro set\'C primaray as fish nurser)' areas. 

Thr m:tjoriry of rhe Upper Color:ado Progr.Jm's con.'>ttucrion projeccs n«ded ro rcCO\•cr rhc endangered fishes arc complcre 

(cl1tl<'s sbosvu ~Jbovr). l..ocared ln western Colorado, rhcsc fish p:t.Ss:-.gcs and screen.-; c.:omrihure ro unimpeded ;'1CCC$S ro ;1pprox .. 

im.1rely 340 miles of dcsignaced cridcaJ habirar ln cht Colorado and Gunniso•l rivers. 
16 


27787.005.eps

Status of Endangered Fishes 

The reco,•ery programs monitor reproducrion, growtb, surviv;~l, aod abundan'e of endangered tishes in t:he wild. 

Res-ulr.s arc used to rrack progre$$ toward achieving recovery and ;1ssess dfCcrivencss of managemen t actions. 

llle core of rhe U.S. Fi$h a1ld Wildlife Service's recov<'ry goals for each species is achieving a sufficient number and size of self~ 

sustaining popularion.s rhar will persist. To achieve rhis, wild or re~ nrrod.uccd aduhs musr survive and reproduce. Rccruirment 

or young fish into rhe :~dulr population musr rhen maintain rhe minjmum popularion level (demographic criteria) idenrilied in 

rhe recovery goals (see page 6). 

COLORADO PIKEMINNOW (Pryd>ocl>eilus lucius) 

Upper Colorado Program 

+ Wild Co1orado pik.eminnow populations occur in the 

Green and Colorado river sub-b:tsins of rhe Upper Colorndo 

River. 

• The popul:uion in the Green River is the largesr 

(Figure I; C'stimarC's for 20l3-20JS are" prdimiP~r.~ry . 

The Service's currcnr downli$ring criu:ril for thls sub.-

basi•' is 2.600 adults. bur the Suvice is re·e~uaci '8 

recent sut'Vival estimates to determine if revision of that 

criteria is necessary. 

• The adulr popularion in the Colorado River sub-basin 

is smaller than che Green River popul:arion (Figure 2; esrimares for 2011- 2015 t~rC' prdiminary). 

• In 2015, 1,331 young-of-yea< {YOY) were collected 

from Colorado River backwaters. 1l1is was the highest 

can:h in rhis reach o( river in 30 years. In 2016. c:uch 

in rhc: Colorado :and lower Green rcmainc:d above 

:aver:tgc, bur drop)>(d in. t.he nliddJe Green River. 

flt""J Green River Subbasin: 

Colorado Pikemlnnow Adults 

-

... 

"" I t I J I I .... 

. 

"" "" --''" "" "" 

Colorado pik("minnow coUected on the Green River. 

Upper Colorado River Subbasin: 

Colorado PJkemlnnow Adults ,.,. 

,.,, 
17 


27787.006.eps

San Juan Progr:lm 

• Colorado pikeminnow are being recst':lbllshed in che 

S.1n Juan Ri,•cr. 

· Over the l:c<r '"'years, 2,707.927 age·O Colorado pike· 

minnow have been srocked into the San Juan River. 

• Annu:~l monitoring eROrts documenr dl:at .scocked fish 

:trt p<r~ining in rh< San ju:tn Riwr (Figur< 3). 

• A record high number (n= 312) of wild-produced 

Colorado pik.eminnow larvae were caprured in 2014. 

In September 2016. 23 wild young-of·ye>r 

Colorado pikeminnow ( .... 2" in le•lgch were 

collected, which reprtsenrs cririt:ally important 

surviV3I beyond the larvall<fe mge. 

· ll1e San Juan Program is restodng secondary 

channels ;~ long rhe river ro incre:'lse the amounr or low 

vdociry nursery habitats for young pikeminnow. Nonnarive 

vegemtion along the shoreline is removed so char these 

habitats can function namrally and lM'tsist inro the future. 

BO!'.'YTAIL (Gilo d''!:"'") 

Upper Colorado Program 

• Sroclcing continues to ree.smblish populations in che 

Upper Color:tdo River :~sin. \"!hen rhe Uppt-r Colorado 

Progt:tm was established. bonyrail had essentially disap· 

peared and little w:as known of its h:abirar requirements. 

Key to bol\ytail tecovety is te.st".arch aJld monirorUlg of 

sroc.ked fi..c;h ro determine life hisrory needs. 

• Survival of srocked bonyc:til is low. Biologisu 

arc testing dLRerenr srocki11g times and growing hatchery 

6sh brgcr. 

• Bonyrail:tdults enured Aoodrd wc:rbnd$ in 2015 :and 

2016, spawned :tl\d productdjuvenHes that reron\ed to rht 

river in rhe f.11l as rhe werbnd d rained. 

San Juan River, Coiorado Pikemi nnow 

.... 

Bobby Duran, USFWS. holds ealt y ad uti Colo1ado pike minnow 

caughlln lhe San Jua.n River. 

Upper c.otorado Program•s Performance to Meet 

AnnuaiBonytall Stocking Goals(%) 

Gtff'JIR;.,.., Colond<I/G•waiooQ Rr..,, 

2012 '2.%' I""' 

201l !O!Io' IIJell 

2011 I"" Ill<> 

201S I"" llll< 

2016 IC).I"- 1-

Sh:~d.M .:dls indiulc run wt~.en I be Sl.xklns ~' 1\01 1111(1. 

l This 2012 groupof'6sh wm <10 i•\Chea toe:~ lt.ngr:h and wert 

tnru(un-d 10 Our.ay Nuio.Jul f ish Hat.:bcry- lbndk-n Unit. to 

grow 0'/C'f Yl-inct r .and v.-~~ 5roc:ktd in 201). 

l(n 2013 to~llt boorrlil Yl"'t:tt hdd in :1 h~~~tc.bcry longtr co.achit\--c 

cbc IO·inch $~. 
18 


27787.007.eps

RAZORBACK SUCKER Xyrm~<lx" t<xmm•) 

+ When c:he rttovuy progtams wetttstabUshed.numbtrs 

of wild razorback sucker had diminished to a few hundred 

adults in rllt Green R.i\•tr sysrcm and wt..rt considertd lost 

from rht Upper Colorado and San Juan tivtrs. Hatchery, 

produced 6sh :.re being stocked ro ret!H..1blish the species 

in rl1c wild. Prefr.rro..i habir.u is bt.irlg restored via Oow :tlld 

floodplain m:lll<lgemem.. and nonnalivt predator control. 

• The reco,•ery programs :ue tevising suxkinf. strau~ ' 

gies 10 incorJ.-~r~ue recenr nocked 6sh survlvoll informa· 

tion. New dju indicatts Lh.u fall is the beSl timt. to stock 

and thar fish should be at l<ast 12 inches in length. 

Proarams' Performance to Meet Annual 

Razorback Sucker Sloe kin& Goals(%) 

Gr•ff!Jtlwr (otOfMO/GI.InniMIIRI.,., .. Sfn)U»I'IJtl'fW 

1012 , .... , .... ll ... 

lOU "'' HH~ ., ... '20lof ..... ...... ..... 2\)1') 

- SJ"' _. 1016 .... .... ""' Sh.a.W cdll mdi..:•t f<-'N wbtn •od:!f~!~l "'-~' n« rna:. 

I n.ot Upp« a ..... tcodafl(. Mf".ltqr¥ t.t-otu.,. ~ott~ to .mii WllM' proJu..aloo 

(rom r..:::.ft..ad: •.tkcrlObol'l)'t.aL 

P•r.,.hc olltbrnk l.nutcd ptodu.di.MI. 

\ AiliiiUI UO(\IfltUt&t' fl( I 1,40() wu IIOC 11\t;t' l0l<t·2ll16l .. llht IOO&_.,.fl" 

l.&flll c:i91.200(Mrn1009·2016wu .. r.:~e. . 

" Jnl01S, 11'/.otrubnt.tl!kc-o .. b«.alll\tbtrr~.niun p<~nd• r""--.:at 1h,. 

nunf.eno(ii.h 10 bcuo.:kol in ?016. 

"""'"'4 San Juan River. Razorback Sucker 

h "" 

!l "' II .r 

Ill 

if !~/ 

IE 100: 

1.11 i~ l . ... Jf I I • - -- • I ~###~~~#~~~~~~~~ v.w 

F.r•l'$ ~ w·/ -·~·· ----~ == .............. """" : ~ .~_...,.

• J !I\=--, ~ 

,, 

.~ 

H 

~ 2 !\! ! \ i~ 

.. / ~······ ... 1l: 

... ... - ..... AUC 

• Fish stocktd in 1he Grten. Colorado. and San Juan 

rivl!rs (Figurt ..J.) are r«aprurl!d in reproducdve condition 

:and oflen irl sp.awning groups. C1pLUrtS or wild·pro· 

duced lar\'3e in tht Grun. GuJHtiSOJl. Colorado. a.nd San 

Ju;m rh·ers documcnl rh.,t rhe stocki:d fish are sp:awning. 

• Amt.nnas placed on a known spawning bar in 1he 

middle Green River in Du1osaur Nation;t) Monument in 

norrhtast Uuh dttected 584 razorback sucker in 2015. 

and 958 in 2016. Most of cltese fish wtr< mxktd in 

2010- 2012. but a few were stocked as long .ago as 2004. 

Submersible antCJ)Oas ustd ntar the. Grt:I!O and Y amp:a 

River c:onRucnee detected 1.0 r:azorb:u;k sucker. more 

th:Jn captured in dte Yam}-'\1 ruvu in the p:lSl 20 }"C.lr$. 

• \Vild ~produced juveniles were aptur~d for the first 

time in tht Green and Colorado rivtrs in 2013 and in Ute 

SanJtWt Rivtr in 2014 . 

• Tite Upper Colorado Program and the Burtau or 

Ro.:Lamacion continue ro adjust the timing of spring relt:as.es 

from Fbming Gorge Dam (Figure S) to connert flood· 

pbins - important nurstry lubitat ror larva) razorback 

sucker. ln September. Utah researchers released ;a record 

high C.1tch or 2.110 young of the ye..u razorback sucker 

from Srewan L2-ke (Figure 6) imo tht Gtet:n River some 

had grown more than 6 inches over the sunun.tr. 

• Hwtdreds of ra2orback sucker art using uansitional 

habit.::n.s at the inflows or both the Colomdo :md S:an ju:m 

rivtn into Lake Powcll. 

fit•' 6 Juvenile Razorback Suckers 

Captured In Stewart lake; 2012 ... 2016 

- I '""' 

1000 

... •• ,.,. V•w 
19 


27787.008.eps

Eileen Henry holds a razorback sucker "ptured on the San luan Angela fames. USFWS, with a razorback sucker caplured during River. endangtred fish monitoring. 

HUMPBACK CHUB (Gil" <ypiJ•) 

• Five wlld popul:trions inh:tbir cmyon .. bQund St:crions of 

chc Color~do, Green, :and Yampa rivers. Oownw.trd crends 

in .some: popul:nions (parricubrly Y:~mp:a C:tnyon) h:tvc: be-en 

:utribtued to inaeased abw1cla•tce of noatn:tti\·t 6sh aJ\d h.abi .. 

r:u changes :associucd wirh c~: cnded periods of droughr. 

• In 2014, biologins n:$umcd ltumpb;•ck chub popub4 

rioa\ t-Still'lation ill Desolariol'l a11d Gr:ay canyons in rhe Grten 

Ri\·er (Figurr 7; r.stjmlltC'S for 2014-2015 41rl! prdunimrry). 

Thest contiguous anyol'l$ provide ..... 45 rivtr miles of occu .. 

pied habimr. fliologisrs sample <10% of me av:tilable habir.u 

e~ch $.'lmp1ing season and eKrr:1pol:uc rcsuhs ro estimare 

O\"Cr:ill popul:arion size. Ald10ugh adult humpback chub 

sunoiv:al :and C&rch ratC$ appear rd01rivdy srable for rhe pasr l5 

years, juvenile survivaJ ~res :ire low. 

11u~ srronges( population in rhe Upsxr Colorndo 

R.ivtt Basin co1tsisrs of rwo groups in Bl:u::k Rocks and 11earby 

\Vesrw:u:er C<anyon. Both popubrions experienced declines 

abour lS ye.us ago. bur haw re1Ulined rd.1ti\·dy st:tble since. 

• 1hc humpback chub popul:uion in C:u:aracr Canyon is 

smaU, bur appeat"S co be srable. 

• Humplr.u;.k d1ub in Vamp:. Cmyon h'l\'C ne\'er been 

coaumon, bur now :a.re extremely rate. The Upper Colorado 

Progr:un is de\'eloping an Upper Basin humpback chub 

brood srocl<. to :lugmcru d)e popu.Luioa\ i1t Ya1np:a C:utyoa\ if 

deemed necessary in the funare. 

• llte U.S. Fish and \Vildlife Service is conducting a 

species SF.trus asscs.smcnr on humpb:K.k chub ro determine 

long .. tenn vi:abiJiry. 

~,7 Green River, Oeso&"tJon..Gr;;:~y Canyon 

I - Popu&atlon Estimates 

a -

i ... 

• t t I ..,. 

- H I ~ ! • --- ""' "" ,.,. "'" "'" "'" 
20 


27787.009.eps

Expenditures 

Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program 

Toral Parmer Conrriburions = $379,685,400 (FY 1989-2017) 

Pow.,. Customw..: / 

Capital Fundinc.,.......... 

$16,99).6.00 \. Oltt41rFed.,-~ Appropriatioru 

$2,85 1,200 

Ul.ah 

------ $6,5 13,700 

wyQmlnc 

- $2,757,800 

---- Bu,..au ot Redarnatlon: 

capibll C05t of 

Rued I Retei"VVOr 

tbh wattr rele.ues 

(FY0l·12) 

$7,349, 100 

Projected Expenditures by Category (FY 20 17 only) 
21 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you. Mr. Hague, you are now recognized 

for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF JIMMY HAGUE, SENIOR WATER POLICY 

ADVISOR, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA 

Mr. HAGUE. Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member Huffman, and 

members of this Committee, thank you for the opportunity to participate in this hearing about two important fish recovery programs 

in the Upper Colorado River Basin. 


27787.010.eps
22 

My name is Jimmy Hague and I am the Senior Water Policy 

Advisor for the Nature Conservancy. I am here today to express 

the Conservancy’s strong support for H.R. 4465, the Endangered 

Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 2017. I want to thank 

Representative Curtis for his leadership in introducing this legislation, as well as all the bipartisan co-sponsors of the bill, 

representing each of the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, 

Colorado, and New Mexico. We appreciate their support. 

In addition to this testimony, I am submitting to the Committee 

today a letter from Taylor Hawes, Director of the Colorado River 

Program at The Nature Conservancy, also requesting your support 

for H.R. 4465. 

The Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated 

to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. 

Working in all 50 states as well as 72 countries, we use the collaborative approach that engages local governments, communities, the 

private sector, farmers, ranchers, and other landowners. In the 

Colorado River Basin, this means working collaboratively to sustain healthy river ecosystems and the people that depend on them. 

The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, 

and the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program, 

are highly successful collaborative conservation partnerships involving the Upper Basin states, as well as Indian tribes, Federal 

agencies, water, power, and environmental interests. These programs are recovering four species of endangered Colorado River 

fish so that they can each be removed from the Federal endangered 

species list while still allowing water use and development to occur 

in our growing western communities. The Nature Conservancy is 

a proud partner in both programs. 

We have supported the recovery programs for more than 30 

years by providing technical and legal expertise, field project support, and private fundraising to match public funds. The programs 

are recovering federally-listed, warm-water native fish through improved management of Federal dams, river and floodplain habitat 

restoration, active native fish stocking, and the control of nonnative fish species, among other activities. 

These programs are successful. They are successful because all 

19 member organizations are fully committed to recovering the fish 

that depend on the Colorado River system. The members demonstrate our commitment by sharing the cost of the programs, and 

by engaging fully in the collaborative process, including consensusbased problem solving. 

These programs are characterized by a culture of respect, 

science-based decision making, and earnest collaboration toward 

shared objectives. The programs have recovery goals that provide 

objective measurable criteria for down-listing and de-listing the 

species, including numeric population goals, and the site of recovery activities. These goals allow the programs to monitor progress 

toward achieving recovery, as well as to assess the effectiveness of 

management activities, and to adjust recovery efforts through 

adaptive management. 

It is critical to both species recovery and water development that 

the authority to use Colorado River Storage Project hydropower 

revenues for annual base funding be extended through 2023. 

23 

Without the passage of H.R. 4465, annual base funding for the 

recovery programs, which is cost-shared pursuant to ongoing agreements by states, tribes, and water users, would be cut by almost 

40 percent after next fiscal year. A cut of this size would significantly harm our ability to recover the species. 

These funds support instream flow identification, evaluation and 

protection, habitat restoration and maintenance, management of 

non-native fish impacts, endangered fish propagation and stocking, 

research, monitoring and data management, program management, 

public information involvement, as well as operation and maintenance of millions of dollars of capital projects, such as fish screens, 

fish passage, and reservoir improvements. 

The substantial reduction of revenue that would occur without 

extended authorization would halt important recovery actions for 

both programs, and put at risk the substantial progress we have 

made over three decades of collaboration to restore healthy populations of these native fish species. It would also create uncertainty 

with respect to ESA compliance for millions of agricultural, industrial, and municipal water users who rely on steady supplies from 

the Colorado River and its tributaries. 

Because extending the programs’ authorization to use these 

hydropower revenues is critical to recovery of the four endangered 

species, The Nature Conservancy strongly urges your support for 

H.R. 4465. 

Thank you, Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member Huffman, 

members of the Committee, for the opportunity to testimony. I look 

forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Hague follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JIMMY HAGUE, SENIOR WATER POLICY ADVISOR FOR THE

NATURE CONSERVANCY

Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member Huffman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to participate in this hearing about 

two important fish recovery programs in the Upper Colorado River Basin. My name 

is Jimmy Hague, Senior Water Policy Advisor at The Nature Conservancy. I am 

here today to express the strong support of The Nature Conservancy for H.R. 4465, 

the Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 2017. 

In addition to this testimony, I am submitting to the Committee a letter from 

Taylor Hawes, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program, requesting your support for H.R. 4465. 

The Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the 

lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, 

on-the-ground solutions to the world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people 

can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and 

oceans at unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping 

make cities more sustainable. Working in all 50 states and 72 countries, we use a 

collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private 

sector, and other partners, including farmers, ranchers, and other landowners. In 

the Colorado River Basin, this means working collaboratively to sustain healthy 

river ecosystems and the people that depend on them. 

The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San Juan 

River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (the ‘‘Programs’’) are highly successful collaborative conservation partnerships involving the states of New Mexico, 

Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, as well as Indian tribes, Federal agencies, and 

water, power, and environmental interests. These Programs are recovering four 

species of endangered Colorado River fish so that they can each be removed from 

the Federal endangered species list while still allowing water use and development 

in our growing western communities. The Nature Conservancy is a proud partner 

in both Programs. 

24 

The Nature Conservancy (the Conservancy) is a long-standing member of the 

Upper Colorado River Program’s Management Committee and Biology Committee 

and the San Juan River Program’s Coordination Committee and Biology Committee. 

(The Conservancy shares representation of environmental interests with Western 

Resource Advocates in the Upper Colorado River Program.) We have contributed 

more than $1.5 million in capital funds for habitat restoration, joining the states 

of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, four Indian tribes, Federal agencies, 

and water and power interests in sharing the costs of recovery and compliance. 

The Programs are successful because all 19 member organizations are fully committed to recovering the federally listed, warm-water, native fish species that depend on the Colorado River system: the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, 

razorback sucker, and bonytail. The members demonstrate our commitment by sharing the costs of the Programs, and by engaging fully in the collaborative process, 

including consensus-based problem solving. The Programs are characterized by a 

culture of respect, science-based decision making, and earnest collaboration toward 

shared objectives. The Conservancy has supported the recovery Programs for more 

than 30 years by providing technical (biological, ecological, and hydrological) and 

legal expertise, field project support (for example, design and implementation of 

three phases of habitat restoration along the San Juan River), and private fundraising to match public funds. 

We are participants in the Programs because they support the recovery of endangered, native fish in the Upper Colorado River Basin through improved management of Federal dams, river and floodplain habitat restoration, active native fish 

stocking, and the control of non-native fish species. The Programs have recovery 

goals that provide objective, measurable criteria for down-listing and de-listing the 

species, including numeric population goals and a set of specific recovery activities. 

These goals allow the Programs to monitor progress toward achieving recovery, to 

assess the effectiveness of management actions, and to adjust recovery efforts 

through adaptive management. 

The collaborative Programs for endangered fish recovery enable water development and management to take place in the Upper Basin in compliance with the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA), interstate compacts, and state water laws. The 

Programs also provide ESA compliance for continued operation of Federal water and 

power projects in the Upper Basin. Since 1988, the two Programs have provided 

ESA Section 7 compliance without litigation for over 2,500 Federal, tribal, state, and 

privately managed water projects across the Upper Colorado River Basin depleting 

more than 3.7 million acre-feet of water per year—including those projects that supply water to our growing western cities. 

It is critical to both species recovery and water development that the authority 

to use Colorado River Storage Project hydropower revenues for annual base funding 

be extended through 2023. Without the passage of H.R. 4465, annual base funding 

for the Recovery Programs—which is also cost-shared pursuant to ongoing agreements by states, tribes, and water users—would be cut by almost 40 percent 

starting next year. 

These funds provide for instream flow identification, evaluation, and protection; 

habitat restoration and maintenance; management of non-native fish impacts; 

endangered fish propagation and stocking; research, monitoring, and data management; public information and involvement; program management; and operation 

and maintenance of millions of dollars of capital projects, including fish screens, fish 

passages, and reservoir improvements. 

The current level of annual base funding is approximately $8.2 million. The substantial reduction of this revenue that would occur without extended authorization 

would halt important recovery actions for both Programs. Such a cut would put at 

risk the substantial progress we have made over three decades of collaboration to 

restore healthy populations of these native fish species. It would also create uncertainty with respect to ESA compliance for the millions of agricultural, industrial, 

and municipal water users who rely on steady supplies from the Colorado River and 

its tributaries. 

Because extending the Programs’ authorization to use these hydropower revenues 

is critical to recovery of the four endangered species, the Nature Conservancy 

strongly urges your support for H.R. 4465. 

Thank you, Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member Huffman, and members of the 

Subcommittee for the opportunity to provide this testimony. 

25 

***** 

ATTACHMENT 

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, 

BOULDER, COLORADO

December 4, 2017 

Hon. DOUG LAMBORN, Chairman, 

Hon. JARED HUFFMAN, Ranking Member, 

House Committee on Natural Resources, 

House Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, 

1324 Longworth House Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20515. 

Re: H.R. 4465, the Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 2017 

Dear Chairman Lamborn and Ranking Member Huffman: 

The Nature Conservancy supports the Endangered Fish Recovery Programs 

Extension Act of 2017 (H.R. 4665) because extending the authorization to use 

hydropower revenues through FY 2023 is critically important to keeping two vital 

endangered species recovery programs moving forward in the Upper Colorado River 

basin. 

H.R. 4465 amends P.L. 106–392, the authorizing legislation for the Recovery 

Programs, to provide for continued use of Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) 

revenue for annual funding of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery 

Program and the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program through 

2023 at currently authorized levels. Cost sharing for the programs is also provided 

by the States of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah, water users, and CRSP 

power customers. 

The two Recovery Programs are highly successful collaborative conservation partnerships involving the States of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, as well 

as Indian tribes, federal agencies, and water, power, and environmental interests. 

These Programs are recovering four species of endangered Colorado River fish so 

that they can each be removed from the federal endangered species list while still 

allowing water use and development in our growing Western communities to continue in compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), state law, and 

interstate compacts. Since 1988, the two Programs have provided ESA Section 7 

compliance without litigation for over 2,500 federal, tribal, state, and privately managed water projects across the Upper Colorado River basin depleting more than 3.7 

million acre-feet of water per year—including those projects that supply water to 

our growing Front Range cities. 

Colorado River Storage Project revenues provide critical annual funding for the 

programs for operation and maintenance of facilities to recover the species, including fish screens, fish passages, bottomland habitat, and hatcheries, research and 

monitoring, and program management. Because extending the Programs’ authorization to use these hydropower revenues is critical to keeping recovery of the four 

endangered species moving forward, the Nature Conservancy requests your support 

for H.R. 4465. 

Sincerely, 

TAYLOR HAWES, 

Colorado River Program Director. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you. Mr. Colosimo, you are now recognized 

for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF ANDREW COLOSIMO, GOVERNMENT AND 

CORPORATE AFFAIRS MANAGER, COLORADO SPRINGS 

UTILITIES, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 

Mr. COLOSIMO. Good morning. Thank you, Chairman Lamborn, 

Ranking Member Huffman, Chairman Bishop, and members of the 

26 

House Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans, for the 

opportunity to testify in support of H.R. 4465. 

My name is Andrew Colosimo, Government Affairs Manager for 

Colorado Springs Utilities. Colorado Springs Utilities is a fourservice municipal utility providing electric, natural gas, water, and 

wastewater services to approximately 407,000 citizen owners. 

Colorado Springs is not located on a major river, it must rely on 

water delivered from distant watersheds. Currently, between 60 

and 70 percent of our water supply originates from first and subsequent reuse of water obtained from the Colorado River headwaters 

through four transbasin diversions. We, along with other Colorado 

Front Range water providers, including Denver and Aurora, serve 

approximately 80 percent of Colorado’s population and economy. 

About 72 percent of this supply comes from the Colorado River 

Basin. As a result, Front Range water providers have a large stake 

in the future of Colorado River. Our water diversions from the 

Colorado River Basin link us to the Upper Colorado Recovery 

Endangered Fish Program. 

Colorado Springs Utilities is also linked to this program because 

we are a preference power customer of the Reclamation’s Federal 

CRSP program by virtue of our firm electric service contract with 

Western Area Power Administration. Approximately 10 percent of 

our power comes from this cost-based and reliable source of 

electricity. 

Colorado Springs Utilities also delivers Federal hydropower allocations to many of our local military installations, including 

Peterson Air Force Base, the Air Force Academy, Cheyenne 

Mountain Air Force Station, and Fort Carson. Ensuring their electric reliability and resiliency is of utmost importance to Colorado 

Springs Utilities. 

This program operates in accordance with state water laws, 

tribal laws, and interstate compact. Colorado water users have 

been involved in protecting endangered fish on the Colorado River 

since 1983, when the Colorado Water Congress established a 

special project on endangered species. The initial objective, as it is 

today, was to develop administrative solutions to potential conflicts 

between water development and management activities, and protection of endangered species in the Colorado River Basin. 

These initial efforts lead to the recovery programs that were 

established through cooperative agreements among the Upper 

Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming, and 

the Federal agencies in 1988. We appreciate the support that 

Congress has provided to this program since 2000 when legislation, 

Public Law 106–392, was passed, which authorized a $100 million 

capital improvement program. 

Since passage of Public Law 106–392, CRSP power revenues 

have provided over $67 million to the Upper Colorado Recovery 

Program, and $32 million to the San Juan River Recovery 

Implementation Program. The CRSP power customers, through the 

participation of the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association, also continue to support this program. 

Water and power interests recognize that the recovery programs 

are an excellent model of Federal/non-Federal collaboration. 

Continuation of the annual base funding from CRSP hydropower 

27 

revenues at the currently authorized levels is essential for the programs to provide continuing ESA compliance, and to assist in recovering the endangered fish species in the two basins. Water and 

power customers strongly support this legislation, and encourage 

timely passage of H.R. 4465, to extend these authorities and obligations contained in Public Law 106–392. 

We are grateful for the past support of the Subcommittee, which 

has allowed these nationally recognized endangered species recovery programs to accomplish these important objectives. Continuing 

the recovery programs through Fiscal Year 2023 will allow our 

community, along with many others, the certainty needed to provide dependable water supply to our citizen owners. We are encouraged by some positive progress toward down- and de-listing these 

species, and look forward to continuing to work with the Federal 

Government, the states, and other partner agencies on program 

objectives. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Colosimo follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANDREW J. COLOSIMO, COLORADO SPRINGS UTILITIES

Thank you Chairman Lamborn, Ranking Member Huffman, and members of the 

House Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans for the opportunity to testify in 

support of H.R. 4465 the ‘‘Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 

2017.’’ I would also like to thank Representative Curtis for introducing this 

important piece of legislation. 

My name is Andrew Colosimo, the Government Affairs Manager for Colorado 

Springs Utilities. As a community-owned, four service municipal utility, our focus 

is providing safe, reliable, competitively-priced electric, natural gas, water and 

wastewater services to our citizen owners and customers. 

The Colorado Springs Utilities water system serves over 470,000 people across a 

200-square mile service area. The water system includes 25 reservoirs, 38 storage 

tanks, 6 water treatment facilities, and over 2,000 miles of water mains. Source 

water is diverted from over 100 miles outside the city. 

Colorado Springs is not located on a major river, it must rely on water delivered 

from distant watersheds. Currently, between 60 and 70 percent of the Utilities’ 

water supply originates from the first use and subsequent reuse of water obtained 

from Colorado River headwaters through four transbasin diversions. These supplies 

are transported into the Arkansas River Basin and delivered to storage and treatment facilities via four raw water pipeline systems. 

We, along with other Colorado Front Range water providers including Denver and 

Aurora, serve about 80 percent of Colorado’s population and economy. About 72 

percent of this supply comes from the Colorado River Basin. As a result, Front 

Range water providers have a large stake in the future of the Colorado River. Our 

water diversions from the Colorado River Basin link us to the Upper Colorado 

Endangered Fish Recovery Program. 

Colorado Springs Utilities is also linked to this program because we are a 

preference power customer of the Reclamation’s Federal Colorado River Storage 

Project (CRSP) by virtue of our firm electric service contract with the Western Area 

Power Administration. Approximately 10 percent of our power comes from this costbased and reliable source of energy. The remainder of our power comes from local 

generation including coal, natural gas, local hydropower generation and renewable 

energy sources. Colorado Springs Utilities delivers Federal hydropower allocations 

to many of our local military installations including Peterson Air Force Base, the 

Air Force Academy, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and Fort Carson. 

Ensuring electric reliability and resiliency for our military customers is of utmost 

importance to Colorado Springs Utilities. 

The Recovery Programs are a proven Federal/non-Federal collaborative program 

that provide Endangered Species Act (ESA) compliance for over 2,320 water projects 

that withdraw about 3.7 million acre-feet annually, including those belonging to 

Colorado Springs. The goals of the programs are to recover four endangered fish 

species—the humpback chub, razorback sucker, bonytail chub and the Colorado 

pikeminnow—while continuing operations and development of water projects in the 

Upper Colorado River and San Juan River Basins, and operation of the Flaming 

Gorge Dam and Aspinall Unit facilities of the CRSP. 

28 

The programs operate in accordance with state water laws, tribal laws, and interstate compacts. There has been no taking of water from any water user or Reclamation contractor. The programs allow the Federal Government to fulfill its Indian 

trust responsibilities in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. It is also important to note that no lawsuits have been filed on ESA compliance for any water 

project under the programs. 

Colorado water users have been involved in protecting endangered fish on the 

Colorado River since 1983 when the Colorado Water Congress established the 

Special Project on Endangered Species. The initial objective was to develop administrative solutions to potential conflicts between water development/management 

activities and protection of endangered species in the Colorado River Basins. 

These initial efforts led to the Recovery Programs that were established through 

Cooperative Agreements among the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New 

Mexico, and Wyoming and Federal agencies in 1988 for an initial 15-year period to 

recover four species of endangered fish in the Colorado and San Juan River Basins. 

In August 2009, the Cooperative Agreements were extended through 2023. The 

Colorado Water Congress continues to support this program today. 

We appreciate the support that Congress has provided to this program since 2000 

when legislation (P.L. 106–392) was passed which authorized a $100 million capital 

improvement program. The legislation required ‘‘matching funds’’ for the capital program so that, in the event state funding for the program ceased, so too would power 

revenue funding. CRSP power revenues funded $17 million of the Program capital 

features. 

The 2000 law also authorized the use of CRSP power revenue for ‘‘base funding’’ 

of activities including operation and maintenance of capital features, and recovery 

actions other than capital projects, including monitoring and research, and program 

management. 

Since passage of P.L. 106–392, CRSP power revenues have provided over 

$67 million to the Upper Colorado Recovery Implementation Program and $32 

million to the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program. The CRSP power 

customers through the participation of the Colorado River Energy Distributors 

Association (CREDA) also continue to support this program. 

Water and power interests recognize that the Recovery Programs are an excellent 

model of Federal/non-Federal collaboration. Continuation of annual base funding 

from CRSP hydroelectric power revenues at currently authorized levels is essential 

for the programs to provide continuing ESA compliance and to assist in recovering 

the endangered fish species in the two basins. 

Water and power customers strongly support this legislation and encourage timely 

passage of H.R. 4465 that will extend authorities and obligations contained in 

Public Law 106–392. We are grateful for the past support of the Subcommittee 

which has allowed these nationally-recognized endangered species recovery programs to accomplish their important objectives. 

Continuing the Recovery Programs through Fiscal Year 2023 will allow our community along with many others the certainty needed to provide dependable water 

supply to our citizen owners. We are encouraged by some positive progress toward 

down- and de-listing species and look forward to continuing to work with the 

Federal Government, the states, and other partner agencies on Program objectives. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you. We will now begin questions for witnesses. To allow all of our Members to participate, and to ensure 

that we can hear from all of our witnesses today, under Committee 

Rule 3(d), Members are limited to 5 minutes for their questions. I 

will save my questions for the end. 

At this point, we will recognize Representative LaMalfa of 

California. 

Mr. LAMALFA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The bill being 

discussed today, obviously, will have great impact on the supply 

and hydropower. The issues being talked about on the Colorado 

River with this program are very similar to what we face in 

Northern California with the Sacramento River Basin, with the 

program there known as the Sacramento Valley Salmon Recovery 

Program, which is an agreement between Federal, state and local 

29 

stakeholders. A lot of good work has been done, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on fish screens, water efficiency, 

habitat restoration, things that have been done with a good bipartisan spirit, and a lot of cooperation. But for quite a few years, not 

all the input from the stakeholders, particularly the water users, 

has been as strong as it should be. So, I am hoping from this legislation we can take some lessons from that and apply it at home in 

California. 

Mr. Colosimo? 

Mr. COLOSIMO. Colosimo. 

Mr. LAMALFA. I should know better as an Italian. Colosimo. 

What do you see for the fish that are being listed under ESA, the 

prospects for being de-listed, how soon, how simple, what needs to 

happen in order to get to a de-listing? 

Mr. COLOSIMO. Congressman LaMalfa, thank you for the opportunity to talk about this program. I think we are on track toward 

down- and de-listing some of these fish, and really are working 

closely with the Federal agencies to come out with some additional 

analysis on their progress. Recovering these species is difficult and 

it is time-consuming, and we would all like to see things done more 

quickly. 

Mr. LAMALFA. Are there structural issues within the ESA that 

make it more challenging than maybe it needs to be? 

Mr. COLOSIMO. I believe that there are certainly opportunities 

that the Endangered Species Act could be streamlined to make 

some of these decisions more quickly. But I think in the case of this 

program, I think we are on track. 

Mr. Maddux may be able to provide a little more specificity on 

exact timing and recovery issues. But I believe that we are on track 

to making significant progress toward down- and de-listing these 

species in the next few years. 

Mr. LAMALFA. So, you are feeling fairly optimistic about that 

timeline? 

Mr. COLOSIMO. Yes, sir. 

Mr. LAMALFA. Mr. Maddux, I will throw that right back to you. 

Mr. MADDUX. Thank you for the question. Currently, the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service is working on species status assessments 

for three of the species: the Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, and humpback chub. That is the first step in the process of 

evaluating whether they are ready to be down-listed. Those evaluations will be completed in 2018. 

The humpback chub is the first one, it is already at the level now 

where it is being discussed in senior management, official wildlife, 

between the three regions: California region; the Southwest, basically, Arizona and New Mexico; and the Region 6 that covers the 

Upper Basin states. So, that one we are pretty optimistic about, 

and we are hoping that by the end of 2018 we will have made 

decisions for down-listing three of the four. 

Mr. LAMALFA. What is your experience on this being a voluntary 

agreement as opposed to being imposed? 

Mr. MADDUX. An interesting fact. Like I said, the 15-mile reach 

is an example. But each year as snow-melt approaches, all the 

private and Federal reservoirs in Colorado begin a dialogue on how 

to coordinate their releases to benefit those fish, so that when 

30 

snow-melts come and they are filling their reservoirs, they 

coordinate their releases to provide what looks similar to the historic hydrograph that occurred when those fish evolved. And that 

is all done voluntarily, and occurs on an annual basis. Not all the 

time are they able to achieve a giant peak, but many times they 

can, and we have seen great benefits from that. We have private 

irrigation companies that are allowing us to put structures in 

place, where all the saved water remains in the river to benefit the 

fish. 

I think as people see and begin to trust and know that their interests are also looked at, the amount of work they do voluntarily 

has greatly increased. 

Mr. LAMALFA. Briefly on sound science, you used that 

terminology a bit ago. How important is that to getting to a good, 

well-rounded outcome? 

Mr. MADDUX. When we started working on these fish, we knew 

very little. In fact, in some of our stocking efforts, we learned we 

were putting those fish in the wrong areas. But as we have 

learned, we have adapted. A great example are the releases out of 

Flaming Gorge Dam. We have a huge amount of flow that comes 

naturally down the Yampa River out of Colorado. We would match 

the peak of the Yampa with the Green River from Flaming Gorge, 

thinking that achieving a high peak and flooding those 

bottomlands was best for the fish. Nothing was happening. 

And what we learned, through science, is that we needed to time 

it when the razorback sucker eggs were hatching on the river. So, 

now, that peak from Flaming George is regulated to match when 

the fish are actually coming off the spawning bars. And now we are 

seeing, this last year, over 2,000 fish out of just one of those 

bottomlands was released back. 

Mr. LAMALFA. It makes sense. I better yield my overtime back. 

Thank you, sir. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Thank you. I would now recognize the Ranking 

Member for any questions he might have. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I really don’t have too 

many questions. I am just very favorably impressed with the way 

all the stakeholders have come together and stuck with it over 

these many years, and the adaptive management that you described sounds like a great feature of this program. 

So, unless you wanted to tell us a little more about the 

hydrograph and how you have timed releases to produce good results for fish, I am content and ready to support this bill. I guess 

I do have one question of any of you that are fisherman. Have any 

of you caught this pikeminnow? 

Mr. MADDUX. I have caught the humpback chub. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Not all of our pikeminnow are valued sport fish 

in California. Sometimes we want to catch them and throw them 

off on the shore and wish that they would go away. But they fight 

for a while and then they just sort of roll over and you bring them 

in, and they are not great fighters. I just wondered if anybody had 

caught these Colorado River pikeminnow, and if they were a more 

challenging sport fish to catch? 

Mr. MADDUX. I might add that the state of Utah is actually 

working with the Fish and Wildlife Service. We are going to try to 

31 

create a sport fishery on one of our reservoirs for Colorado 

pikeminnow. Can you imagine people setting a new state record 

every year, and the excitement that that will generate. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. And jobs, because fisheries do create jobs and a 

lot of economic activities, and it is important that we remember 

that. Thanks for all your good work. 

Mr. LAMBORN. I do have a few follow-up questions. Mr. Colosimo 

and Mr. Maddux, we have talked a little bit about fisheries or 

hatcheries. What role do these play in recovering endangered 

species on the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins? 

Mr. MADDUX. Thank you, Chairman Lamborn. When we first 

started these programs, there were about 300 razorbacks left in the 

wild in the Upper Basin, and they were dwindling every year. 

There were no bonytail in the Upper Basin. Through hatcheries, we 

have been able to re-establish razorback suckers and we have 

reached numbers now to where they are spawning, reproducing, 

their young are surviving. Fishery crews are out on the river and 

they are catching so many it is getting in the way of some of their 

other work. So, that is a success for razorback sucker. 

We now changed those resources to bonytail, and I think we are 

finally starting to achieve the levels of bonytail in the river where 

we are starting to see a biological response. So, those hatcheries 

have been critical to our success. 

I should note that Navajo Nation and others have provided some 

of their own land to raise these fish for reintroduction on the San 

Juan and in the Green and Colorado. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Colosimo? 

Mr. COLOSIMO. Mr. Chairman, I don’t have anything else to add 

to Mr. Maddux’s. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Are the fish that are released into the wild 

genetically identical to those that are in the wild? 

Mr. MADDUX. Yes. We have genetic management plans for all 

these species where the crosses, the male, the female, are controlled on who is mating, who is producing those young, to basically 

get the best genetic mix we can at the time of release. 

Mr. LAMBORN. I have always thought that it was a good idea to 

use hatcheries. I have heard occasionally some criticism that these 

fish are not the same as those that are in the wild, so they don’t 

want to use hatcheries. My thought is if we are really after the 

species being brought back and revived, we should embrace hatcheries. And to not use them would be—the only alternative is just 

to tie up a lot more territory, which is barred from any kind of development or use. So, to me, hatcheries are important for this purpose. Any comments? 

Mr. MADDUX. Personally, I believe that two of our four species 

would be extinct in the Upper Colorado and San Juan Rivers if it 

were not for hatcheries. We were starting at such low numbers 

that without the support of hatchery-produced fish, those fish 

would be gone today. 

Mr. LAMBORN. All right. Thank you for being here and for your 

testimony. I now recognize Representative Barraga ́n. 

Ms. BARRAGA ́ N. I don’t have any questions. 

Mr. LAMBORN. If there are any last questions, we will entertain 

them, otherwise we are going to wrap up. Thank you for being 

32 

here. Under Committee Rule 3(o), members of the Committee 

might submit questions to the Clerk within 3 business days 

following this hearing, and the hearing record will be open for 10 

business days for responses. If you get any of those questions, 

please answer them. 

Mr. LAMALFA. Mr. Chairman, would you mind if I threw out one 

more? 

Mr. LAMBORN. Go ahead, we have not dropped the gavel yet. 

With everyone’s unanimous consent, go ahead. 

Mr. HUFFMAN. Through the grace of the Ranking Member. 

Mr. LAMALFA. All right. Very graceful. Thank you. 

Mr. LAMBORN. The bipartisan grace. 

Mr. LAMALFA. All right. Since you threw it open, I thought I had 

to do my 5 minutes in 6 minutes earlier, so I appreciate that. I will 

come back to Mr. Maddux—I chair the Subcommittee on Indian 

Affairs, so I wondered what major concerns you may have seen 

with the various tribes involved in the system on the San Juan 

River there? How are those efforts engaged and ensured for their 

concerns? 

Mr. MADDUX. As I said, the four tribes are active members. They 

are represented at both the administration level and the biology 

level on the committees. They all have water projects that rely on 

these programs for their Endangered Species Act compliance. They 

have all stepped up in doing voluntary efforts to help us achieve 

recovery. They support us. They come back each year, as we come 

back to brief Members of Congress on the program and our success. 

They are vital—they are basically the backbone of the San Juan 

River Program. 

Mr. LAMALFA. Thank you. That is really good to hear on the voluntary efforts that have been mentioned here a couple of times in 

Committee. I appreciate that. And, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the 

extra indulgence, and Mr. Ranking Member, thank you. I will yield 

back. 

Mr. LAMBORN. I would like to ask another question and then we 

will keep this open for a second round. That is great bipartisan 

cooperation here. 

Mr. Colosimo, the lack of lawsuits and certainty associated with 

the water and power operations in the Basin is a great success. We 

must not lose sight, however, of the goals of what the programs 

seek to achieve, which is the eventual de-listing of the four ESAlisted fish species. 

Mr. Maddux, I believe, addressed this earlier about the possible 

timeline for eventual de-listing of these four species. Is there anything that you would like to say about the eventual de-listing? 

Mr. COLOSIMO. Chairman Lamborn, thank you for the question. 

I think that the progress that we are making is encouraging. I 

think we need to remain vigilant and continue to fund these programs. Without these programs, if we aren’t successful, there is an 

impact, and it is going to impact our water supply and electricity 

supply in the West. I think that is why we are all at the table and 

are going to remain at the table to try to recover these endangered 

fish. 

Mr. LAMBORN. How big of a percentage of the budget from WAPA 

are these programs? And is it all WAPA? 

33 

Mr. COLOSIMO. I’m not sure that I understand. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Maddux? 

Mr. MADDUX. On our annual base funding, power revenues 

account for about 75 percent of our funding. 

Mr. LAMBORN. OK. 

Mr. MADDUX. States contribute cash each year, as well as other 

in-kind, and other partners also contribute. 

Mr. LAMBORN. Federal dollars? 

Mr. MADDUX. Fish and Wildlife contributes close to $2 million 

annually toward the program. 

Mr. LAMBORN. All right. That helps. Thank you. If there are no 

further questions, we are going to go ahead and wrap up. You 

heard what I said about being open to written questions that might 

be submitted to you. If there is no further business, without objection, the Subcommittee stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:50 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

[LIST OF DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD RETAINED IN THE

COMMITTEE’S OFFICIAL FILES]

Letters Submitted in Support of H.R. 4465 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Colorado Water Conservation 

Board, dated December 4, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Grand Valley Water Users 

Association, date not specified. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Public Service Company of New 

Mexico, dated December 1, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Southeastern Colorado Water 

Conservancy District, dated November 30, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Central Utah Water Conservancy 

District, date not specified. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Colorado River District, dated 

December 4, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from Colorado Springs Utilities, dated 

November 30, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Colorado Water Congress, date 

not specified. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Colorado River Energy 

Distributors Association, dated December 4, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from Denver Water, date not specified. 

34 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from Governor Mead of Wyoming, dated 

December 7, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Navajo Nation, dated December 

1, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the National Water Resources 

Association, dated December 1, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the New Mexico Interstate Stream 

Commission, dated December 4, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Orchard Mesa Irrigation District, 

date not specified. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the San Juan Water Commission, 

dated November 30, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, dated 

November 29, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Northern Colorado Water 

Conservancy District, date not specified. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from Tri-County Water Conservancy 

District, date not specified. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Southwestern Water Conservation District, dated December 1, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from Tri-State Generation and 

Transmission Association, Inc., dated December 18, 2017. 

—Letter addressed to Chairman Lamborn and Ranking 

Member Huffman from the Upper Colorado River 

Commission, dated December 1, 2017. 

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