Impact Assessment for Reservoir Fisheries and Biological Assessments Underway for Programmatic Endangered Species Consultation

Abstract

This paper describes a joint effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and CH2M HILL to assess the impacts of water allocation on the reservoir fisheries of the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) and Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basins. We also present the approach being implemented by the Corps, in coordination with USFWS, to prepare the Biological Assessment of Federal threatened and endangered species with potential to be affected by the water allocations in each basin. These analyses are being conducted to support preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for each basin.