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CONSERVATION GROUPS COMMENT LETTER . ~ed1 ",HllIr S.1.. Pig. 2 . A.pen Wild.rn... Wor~.hop Garfield County Citizens A..ociat.ion teen Idequately studied Dera,. .election ot the Preferred Alternative. ~. are surprised and disappointed that I mors in-depth trend analysi. o! recraation U.. VI. not dona in this document; ~lth the help of computer. to lnterpret the dirferent typ.. of data, it ahould ba po..~~l. to do thi., Our bi;;..t ObJ.cti~n to the recreational use data in the dralt 1_ ~h8 VIY it i. melsured, At an area liKe Rued! that ha. aignitlcant use ~r local., only count.ing 12 hour visits ignores the bulk Of its ~.e. camping i. really the only use that i. apt to l..t tor 12 hours. 14-5 :=:uedi and the rivers dovnlU'"ilm Ira u.le by locall, people ...ho may on1)" have a rev houclJ to g-o fish, ."'.l.'Tl. "'.ll"ldsur!, picnic, .ightaee or just s~t and enjoy a rare, beautitul body or vater in this arid climate. Ruedi.t al can be enJoyed arter ...orK, for an arternoon or =e!ore other commitments. This ~akes it very important to local ::esicents. ~ more comprehensive surveyor use "'aUld be appropriate be!or. a pr.!e::::ed alternative i8 ~elected. Such a survey "'auld not b. dl~!icult. ~e (eel this surv~y ...ould illu5trate ~ prcpandQr~ncc of loc~l use th~t had p::oviously 90ne unvoririud. The pot~ntlal for ~dv~r~e impact~ from t~e Pre:erred Altern.tive i. tremendous. The .~unt of money spent to do ~n .dequate us. survey i. insigniflcant co~p.red to the amounts o! ~~ney that local economies could lose if recreatlonal use at the ~::yin~ P.n V.lley drop. .h~rply. While do!nQ II. Qood survey m~Qht havQ c:elared thil! draft document, the Bureau or RCCllll".tion should not be 11'1 such ~ hurry to cator to industrlal de.ires t~al it iqnores exi5tinq local priorlties. 14-6 .,;itn the meaqll'r IUllount of Information 9athered tor thlS dratt, it is ;:::ob.,bl: true that the eXlct impact or r~sorvoir dralldOlln. C.lrmot t.Q !'Jllr aases.ed. It is our hope th.t the aurcau \till respond t.o corr.ments such as our. .nd realize these impacts ~ou1d be .lqnlticant. All actlvitiea would be 1~pactQd. Mud llatli are terribly un.1qhtly. Their ~::es~nce can be .ccepted in t.he .prlnQ b~f~r~ r~.ervoirR till ",it.h ::"In-o!f. :~eath.r .nd water telllper.tures are not yet conducive to llIany ~~cr~ation.l activities. (Althou;h there are .l....ys SOme hearty lio~ls :~at ~ill be o~t there} The.. dr3~downs are. particular proble~ in :~tQ surr~er. This i. true because the .hallow b~ys that are impOrtant. ~or roc:e.t.ionalists And !1sh are dram.~ically imp.cted by every ""~ctic~l :oot ot deop and ltllportan':. liur!ac. .r~a and !iah hilbit.at are .LOSt. :~pacta or dr.l"'do"'n on .om8 recreatlon usas ~iqht not be imm~diately l;:p~ror.':.. Thill' 1M e.poci.llly true 'or non-loc.ll V1SltOrs. aut th. :.:-pa..:t. would to noq.lti....o o,Ind lonq .i..utinq. If tl :il~lly that trilv.l. :-an)" :!lUes to (!n;o)" sllllt<l:.:Il d.ys or pr~ciou. volcatlol"l tlr.l. .t Ru~di lS ~on(ront8d vith mud :l.lts a~d unu~~aul~ coat rampa, they will leave RESPONSE 14-5: 14-6: has been placed at a disproportionate risk to another. regardl ess of priority. it was not found that the Preferred Alternative would sig- nificantly degrade the economic base of the valley. o en -.l c.;\ The recreation use data presented in the draft is the only comprehensive information available and is used by the Forest Servi ce and other agencies for their management plans. Although thi s type of data may only approximate some activity participation levels, it does present a good indication of use patterns. Data trends were confi rmed wi th the Forest Servi ce Camp- ground hosts to be sure they reflected actual use. It is unlikely that a detailed recreation user survey would change the conclusions of the recreation impact assessment. ~ ~ w '" The draft EIS notes the importance of drawdown on aesthetic values of the reservoir and the potential for adverse impacts to recreation use and the local economy. Impacts would occur at reservoir levels below 85,000 acre-feet. The probability of this level occurring at the end of August under current rel ease patterns is three percent, compared with 25 percent for the Preferred Alternative. - .-. ...;;. - .. - ..... ,- - - -