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o o '.) .:.;, Response: ~ 12. Comment: Response: 13. Comment: Response: 14. Comment: Response: The resource specialists gathering the various test data will submit in writing their findings, analysis, and conclusions for review by peers within Reclamation, Documentation will occur in writtenfonnat and through video footage and still pictures, The SJRBRIP is not a review entity, The draft EA offers no detail on how Reclamation will monitor the river during the test to ensure that significant impacts are detected in a timely fashion - and the low flow test terminated should those impacts begin to occur. Please reference the Final EA, It provides a more detailed explanation of how the river will be monitored to ensure that significant impacts are detected in a timely fashion, Reclamation staff and New Mexico state personnel will be on the river daily during the test to monitor effects, Please provide an explanation justifying the proposed length of the low flow test and why it is being conducted in July, 5 - 10 days was selected as the proposed length of the test in order to allow as muchjZexibility in the monitoring process as possible, It also provides a couple of days for the river to acquire equilibrium after the releases are ramped down to 250 cfs, In addition, the resource specialists monitoring the river need time to travel its length from the dam to Bluff, UT, observing and documenting any impacts, July was chose in order to allow time for the river to stabilize after the spring peak; because Animas River jZows should still be high, thus maintaining needed flows downstream from Fannington; and because July should also have high air temperatures, so that impacts on water temperature can better be detennined, One of the factors to terminate the test is a flow less than 500 cfs, at the Farmington, NM gauge, Historic flow data both at Farmington, NM and at Bluff, UT should be provided to determine the difference in flows between the two stations and within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Further, it would seem appropriate that flow measurements should be made at Bluff, UT and compared to the flows at Farmington NM, A threshold value should also be established at Bluff to accommodate recreational use, One of the categories of the flow recommendations is to meet a target base jZow (mean weekly non-spring runoffjZow) of500 cfsfrom Fannington to Lake Powell. This will be detennined by monitoring USGS real time streamjZows at Shiprock, Four Comers and Bluff. The USGS maintains rhese stations, so Reclamation will not need to take measurements of streamjZows in this area, 13