The ROD selected the “preferred alternative” from among the options presented in the Glen Canyon Dam EIS of 1995. The preferred alternative was the Modified Low Fluctuating Flow Alternative (see 1994 Biological Opinion above). The rationale for choosing that alternative was “The goal of selecting a preferred alternative was not to maximize benefits for the most resources, but rather to find an alternative dam operating plan that would permit recovery and long-term sustainability of downstream resources while limiting hydropower capability and flexibility only to the extent necessary to achieve recovery and long-term sustainability” (USDI 1996: 10). The ROD also mandated the establishment of an Adaptive Management Program and the funding of scientific research to inform the Secretary of Interior regarding how dam operations might be modified to meet the statutory requirements of the Grand Canyon Protection Act (USDI, 1996). Several specific environmental research and monitoring commitments were specified in the ROD, including cultural resources, flood frequency, sediment/beaches, and endangered humpback chub populations. In his oral history interview, Andre Potochnik calls this the real starting point for GCDAMP, because it was the beginning of compliance with the GCPA.