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<br />i <br /> <br />advises the Bureau of Reclamation on wildlife mitigation matters, indicates that <br />an additional 2,500 acres of land and $250,000 in range improvement practices will <br />be needed to replace big game habitat losses. The Bureau of Reclamation has ten- <br />tatively located willing sellers of land that will mitigate losses of the game <br />herds involved. <br /> <br />Stream Depletion <br />The project would deplete the Colorado River Stream system by an average of <br />154,700 acre-feet annually. This represents about five percent of the depletion <br />allocated to the State of Colorado under a long series of compacts that divide the <br />flows of that stream. <br />The project will deplete the flows of the Animas River by an average of about <br />24 percent. The effects of the direct flow diversions of the project, however, <br />will be entirely different from those of an onstream storage darn. Direct flow <br />diversions will have a skimming effect that will create only minimal changes in <br />the natural condition of the stream. Natural floods will continue to occur with <br />only slight reductions (430 cfs) in magnitude. Below a storage dam, degradation <br />takes place until the clear water releases from the darn pick up a new sediment <br />load. Below that reach the regulated flows, with virtually no floods, cause ag- <br />gradation where the streambed builds up and sediment plugs form. . ,> <br /> <br />t <br />. <br />. <br /> <br />~ <br />~f <br /> <br />Indian Involvement <br />The Justice Department has filed a suit in the Colorado District Court to es- <br />tablish and quantify water rights belonging to the Southern ute Tribes. Because <br />of legal precedents established in the Winters case of 1908 and subsequent court <br />cases, it is quite certain that the Tribes will receive a water right priority <br />date of 1868 coinciding with the date their reservations were established. In <br />past cases rights have been granted for all lands that can be economically irri- <br />gated. There is also the possibility that rights might be granted for the devel- <br />opment of other resources such as coal. <br />Any water rights the Tribes may receive would predate all non-Indian rights <br />on the streams involved. In many areas, particularly on the Mancos River, this <br />could be devastating to the local economy. <br />The Animas-La plata Project, together with the Dolores Project, would provide <br />approximately 80,000 acre-feet of water to develop all the land and coal resources <br />that are economically feasible to develop at the present time. <br />Even though the law suit may continue to a court decision, development of the <br />two reclamation projects will, for all practical purposes, solve the serious so- <br />cial and ecomonic problems that would otherwise develop without the projects. <br /> <br />~ <br />" <br />~ <br />" <br />~.. <br /> <br />Energy Impacts <br /> <br /> <br />Consumption <br />The Animas-La Plata is a power consuming'project. It would use an average <br />of 170 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. As provided in the authorizing <br />act, this power would be furnished from the Upper Colorado River Storage Project. <br /> <br />Production <br />Even though the project consumes power, it will provide 32,500 acre-feet of <br />water to develop coal resources of the two Ute Tribes. The energy consumed by the <br />project would be only about one percent of the potential energy that could be pro- <br />duced from the available water and coal. <br />At this stage the ute Tribes do not have firm plans as to how they will de- <br />velop their coal resources. Their options include electric power generation, gas- <br />ification, slurry pipeline or hauling the coal by truck to a railroad and thence <br />to a distant market. <br />Colorado Ute Electric Association, which generates power for western Colorado, <br /> <br />-3- <br />