On Sept. 20, the House Committee on Natural Resources voted to approve U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s bipartisan bill to protect endangered fish and aid 1,200 Colorado water and power users.

The Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Reauthorization Act, HR 4596, would reauthorize the Upper Colorado and San Juan Recovery Programs to protect four threatened and endangered native fish species until 2031.

The Upper Colorado and San Juan Recovery Programs began in 1988 to fully recover four federally listed endangered fish species – Colorado pikeminnow, bonytail, razorback sucker and the humpback chub. During this time, significant water and power-use restrictions were threatened.

As part of the Colorado River Storage Project, the recovery programs bring water from Aspinall Unit, Navajo and Flaming Gorge reservoirs. Together they store 6.5 million acre-feet of water.

Local communities, water users, environmental groups, Tribes, energy users and states have worked together to recover the four threatened and endangered fish species while sustaining water and power facility development and operations in the Upper Colorado River and the San Juan River Basins over the past three decades.

Read the full article here.