Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program: Development of an AM Plan to Assist Recovery of ESA-Listed Silvery Minnow and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

The Middle Rio Grande (MRG) comprises roughly 300 mainstem miles of the Rio Grande and its tributaries from the New Mexico-Colorado state line south to Elephant Butte Reservoir. This area contains nesting habitat for the Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) and the only remaining naturally-occurring population of the Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hybognathus amarus), both listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Biological Opinion in 2003, which will expire early in 2013, and the process of preparing a new Biological Opinion is underway.

The Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program (Program) was created to help ensure ESA compliance for federal and non-federal water and river maintenance operations affecting the silvery minnow and flycatcher.  It is comprised of 16 signatories with a range of interests and authorities. The Program intends to use AM for both compliance and to contributeto the recovery of these two species in a system that includes numerous dams and diversions for important regional water uses such as irrigation, water supply for villages, pueblos, towns and cities, and flood control.

This presentation will describe the process we used to draft an AM Plan for the Program. It will focus on the Assess step of the AM cycle, conveying an approach for bringing clarity to a complex and multi-faceted problem. This will include how to bring structure to long lists of questions, distinguish between different types of uncertainty, and sequence what to do next when future changes are expected in the regulatory instruments that define the suite of permissible management actions.