WSP11291

• File Number: 8281.960
• Description: Colorado River Studies and Investigations -- Lower Colorado Comprehensive Framework Study
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 6/1/1971
• Title: Lower Colorado Region Comprehensive Framework Study -- Appendix XII - Recreation
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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SUMMARY

The Job Ahea.d

The Appendix considers some of the broad issues and
problems which will confront recreation planners in
the Lower Colorado Region between 1965 and 2020.
The central focus of this study is detennining ways
of satis~ing the 918 million recreation days of
annual demand which will be generated by the 6.9
million projected population (developed by the
Office of Business. Economics and the Economic
Research Service, later modified by the Lower Colorado
Framework Study staff). Based on 1965 levels of
supply, the Region will need an additional 671 mil-
lion recreation days of development if the demand
is to be met. It is si gnificant that approximately
70 percent of this need is considered urban in nature.

Recreation needs are expressed in three ways:
development needs in recreation days, additional
land acquisition or acreage shifts from low density
to high density recreation use, and additional water
surface needs. The Gila and Lower Main Stem Sub-
regions have the greatest share of the needs which
reflects the location of the Region's three urban
centers. The Little Colorado Subregion accounts for
the bulk of additional water surface needs while the
present supply of water-based recreation opportunities
in the Lower Main Stem Subregion are estimated to be
adequate through 2020. Class I and Class II lands
constitute the entire non-water-based recreation needs;
Class III lands constitute a surplus in the Region.
The cost of meeting needs will. total over $2.5 billion
by 2020 of which $1.7 billion will be required to
satis~ urban needs. Operation, maintenance and
replacement costs to support the additional develop-
ment will approach $257 million annually.

Unmet Need/,

The response of the framework plan to meeting the
recreation needs leaves 386 million recreation
days of needs unmet by 2020. The job of meeting
all recreation needs requires that we review the
effectiveness of past policies and challenge those
found to be inadequate. The recreation needs are
definitely urban-oriented, yet the financial
assistance available to local governments remains

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