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A. B. WEST Power users pay the cost of the Federally financed storage dams, except for Parker Dam, which was wholly paid for by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, These dams make control of the river possible. The dams spell the difference between a useless river and a river that serves people. To power users, understandably, water has greatest value when used to generate peaking power or provide system support. Our contracts so provide. To recreationists and Chambers of Commerce, the river is deficient if it isn't high enough on weekends to permit boaters to enjoy water sports, We do the best we can, bending a little here and stretching a little there. To those who toil in support of increased fish and wildlife values, the water's value is in terms of fish, waterfowl, doves, especially white-wings, and all other wildlife that enjoy the controlled river, . For more than two decades, Reclamation has endeavored to keep. these varied interests in bal- ance, We work on a daily basis with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife on matters affecting fish and wildlife. That Bureau, in turn, has prime responsibility for liaison with the fish and game in- terests at the state level. Wildlife spokesmen recall with poignant nostalgia the "good old days", and many blame Re- clamation for taking them away, The conditions prevailing during high-water years following closure at Hoover Dam cannot be brought back, There is little point in expecting a return of those lush years, such as 1952, when 15,820,000 acre-feet flowed through the turbines at Hoover Dam, and 10,186,000 acre-feet crossed the northern boundary into Mexico. We must live with what we have until the river is augmented, and the unfortunate truth is that no presently known method for augmentation of the ColoradO River is wholly unobscured. Each plan, whether by desalinization, inter-basin transfer, or milking .the clouds, has ul,lresolved problems. The water we have must be used with maximum efficiency. In these circumstances, sound judgment and cool heads must prevail. Beneficial ownership of the water of the lower Colorado River is not vested in the United States, with the exception of those amounts specifically set forth in the Supreme Court decree for certain Federal wildlife refuges, and except for the dominant governmental interest in navi- gation, flood control, and related requirements imposed by the Boulder Canyon Project Act. We think we have been sensitive to demands of all those who use the river. Our management program is based upon that premise, and we appreciate your support, I -I . -28-