Water authority OKs plan to protect endangered species

Stephen Curran

Friday, March 18, 2005 | 8:29 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority on Thursday moved forward with a plan that would make it and a laundry list of state and federal agencies the landlords for dozens of endangered or threatened species.

The authorization, approved at the water authority's board of directors meeting, gives the agency the go-ahead to begin reviewing plans to possibly buy land along the Colorado River between Hoover Dam and the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, Pat Mulroy, general manager of the water authority, said.

Biologists for the water authority estimate that stretch of the river is home to four endangered species of fish and another endangered bird. As many of 21 additional species are considered threatened or potentially threatened, Zane Marshall, a senior biologist for the water authority, told the board.

Buying the land, a process that will likely involve negotiating with current land owners and approval by the water authority board, would help the governments to protect the plant and animal life on the land, thereby avoiding the need to add more flora and fauna to the endangered species list, according to the water authority.

Officials on Thursday said they do not yet know how much land could be purchased or how much it would cost, Mulroy said. An existing agreement for the $626 million over the next 50 years for the Multi-Species Conservation Program splits the tab evenly between the federal and three state governments.

"It was painful," Mulroy said of the negotiations with other government agencies. "Everybody had to get on the same page. ... But once those (endangered) fishes were listed, you've got to do something."

Under the agreement, 11 years in the making, Nevada and Arizona would evenly pick up $156.5 million of the cost. The water authority and its sister agency, Nevada's Colorado River Association, would share a $78 million portion in the pact.

California and the federal government would each contribute half of the remaining $313 million.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton is expected to sign the agreement into law April 4 in a ceremony at Hoover Dam.

All told, 15 separate agencies, five of them from Nevada, comprise a steering committee to negotiate the transactions.