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<br />0027J6 <br /> <br />21 <br /> <br />the extent necessary to prevent increased adverse impacts on the <br />resources and values of those areas. <br /> <br />SAVINGS CLAUSE <br /> <br />Subsection 8(e) is a savings clause, stating that except as pro- <br />vided in subsections 8(c) and 8(d), neither the provisions of the bill <br />related to the Fossil Ridge Recreation Management Area, the <br />Bowen Gulch Protection Area, the Piedra, Roubideau, and <br />~abeguache Ar~as, ~~ the lands design_ate~ a,! wild~rn~ss by _s~- <br />tion 2(a), nor the wilderness status ot the Jands so desIgnated oy <br />section 2(a), are to be construed to affect or limit the use, oper- <br />ation, maintenance, repair, modification, or replacement of water <br />resource facilities in existence on the date of the bill's enactment <br />within the boundaries of any of these areas. The intent of sub- <br />section 8(e) is to make clear that subsections 8(c) and 8(d) are the <br />only parts of the bill that govern such use, operation, maintenance, <br />repair, modification, or replacement of existing water resource fa- <br />cilities within these areas. <br /> <br />MONITORING AND IMPLEMENTATION <br /> <br />Subsection 8(0 provides that the Secretaries of Agriculture and <br />the Interior are to monitor the operation of and access to water re- <br />source facilities within the areas described in sections 2, 5, 6, and <br />9 of the bill and are to take all steps necessary to implement the <br />provisions of section 8 of the bill. This provision is a practical rec- <br />ognition that implementation of section 8 will require vigilant, <br />careful, and ongoing efforts by the Federal land managers to en- <br />sure that the requisite protection of wilderness and other values <br />will be achieved, consistent with the specified protections for exist- <br />ing water resource facilities and associated water rights. <br /> <br />INTERSTATE COMPACTS AND THE NORTH PLATI'E RIVER <br /> <br />Subsection 8(g) has two paragraphs. Paragraph 8(gX1) provides <br />that nothing in the bill or in any previous Act designating any <br />lands as wilderness is to be construed as limiting, altering, modify- <br />ing, or amending any of the interstate compacts or equitable appor- <br />tionment decrees that apportion water among and between the <br />State of Colorado and other States. This paragraph also states that <br />except as expressly provided in section 8, nothing in the bill will <br />affect or limit the development or use of Colorado's full apportion- <br />ment of such waters by existing and future holders of vested water <br />rights. <br />Paragraph 8(gX2), like paragraph 8(bX1), would withdraw statu- <br />tory jurisdiction of courts and agencies to consider certain water- <br />related claims, but this paragraph relates solely to the Platte River <br />Wilderness established by P.L. 98-550, which is located on the <br />boundary between Colorado and Wyoming. This paragraph pro- <br />vides that no person (including the Secretary of Agriculture or any <br />other officer, employee, or agent of the United States) shall assert <br />in any court or agency (of the U.S. or other jurisdiction) any rights, <br />and no U.S. court or agency shall consider any claim or defense <br />based on such rights, which may be determined to have been estab- <br />lished for waters of the North Platte River for purposes of such wil- <br />