First Regular Session

Sixty-second General Assembly

LLS NO. R99­0856.01 Pam Cybyske

STATE OF COLORADO



BY REPRESENTATIVES Young, Berry, Coleman, Gotlieb, Grossman, Hoppe, Johnson, Miller, Plant, Smith, Spradley;

also SENATOR Wattenberg.

ENGROSSED

AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK AND NATURAL RESOURCES

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 99­1019

CONCERNING THE SPECIES CONSERVATION ELIGIBILITY LIST.


WHEREAS, Pursuant to section 24­33­111 (2), Colorado Revised Statutes, the Species Conservation Trust Fund has been created in the state treasury to fund programs designed to conserve native species that have been listed as threatened or endangered under state or federal law, or are candidate species, or are likely to become candidate species, as determined by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; and

WHEREAS, Pursuant to section 24­33­111 (3), Colorado Revised Statutes, the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources, after consulting with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and its Director, the Wildlife Commission, and the Director of the Division of Wildlife, has prepared and delivered to the General Assembly a Species Conservation Eligibility List describing programs and associated costs that are eligible to receive funding from the Species Conservation Trust Fund; and

WHEREAS, Pursuant to section 24­33­111 (3), Colorado Revised Statutes, prior to obligating funds from the Species Conservation Trust Fund the Species Conservation Eligibility List is subject to modification and adoption through the passage of a joint resolution approved by a majority vote of both houses of the General Assembly; and

WHEREAS, House Bill 98­1006, enacted at the Second Regular Session of the Sixty­first General Assembly, appropriated $10 million to be placed in the Species Conservation Trust Fund for expenditures related to native species; and

WHEREAS, These expenditures shall be used for activities that are conducted in voluntary cooperation with landowners; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly deems the recommended expenditures described in the Species Conservation Eligibility List to be in the interest of the people of the state; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty­second General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:

(1)   That the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources is authorized to obligate and expend $1,151,000 from the Species Conservation Trust Fund for the following activities, programs, and species:

(a)  From the capital account of the Species Conservation Trust Fund:

PROGRAM/ SPECIES AMOUNT

(I)    San Juan / Upper Colorado $ 222,000

Endangered Fish Recovery

Programs

(II)   Platte River Basin $ 300,000

Cooperative Species

Program

(III)  Preble's Meadow $ 250,000

Jumping Mouse

Conservation

(IV)  Conservation of Aquatic $ 304,000

Species of Special

Concern/Species at Risk

Subtotal $1,076,000

(b)  From the operations and maintenance account of the Species Conservation Trust Fund for the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Commissioner of Agriculture, to retain an independent biologist for the purpose of assessing the appropriateness of listing the prairie dog and mountain plover as threatened and endangered species under federal law, the amount of:

PROGRAM/ SPECIES   AMOUNT

Prairie Grassland Species $ 75,000 Subtotal $ 75,000

Grand total $ 1,151,000

Be It Further Resolved, That this resolution be presented to the Governor for signature pursuant to Article V section 39 of the state constitution.