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<br />CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE
<br />CASPER, WYOMIN>
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<br />Februarv 19. 1976
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<br />Ag water draws remarks
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<br />ByKA'l'HERINE MOREHEAD
<br />CHEYENNE - Headway towards resolution of the Savery-
<br />PothOOk RedamatJon Project was apparently made Wednesday at
<br />a meeting of the Game and Fish Commission and Savery area
<br />ranclJe'ii,
<br />Chatred by Gov, Ed Herschler, the meeting brought together
<br />both parties to the nlne-month-<lld debate of the fish and wUdlife
<br />facets of the proposed agricultural project for the first time,
<br />1be water project, first authorized by Congress some 12 years
<br />ago, had been near construction last summer when the Game and
<br />Fish Depl suddenly announced that adequate provisions for game
<br />animals and fishing had not been Included in the plan, The
<br />department then proposed a 38,lJOO.acre elk refuge and one-quarter-
<br />mUe pl\bllc fishing easements on the streams affected hy the
<br />project. '
<br />Local project officials objected to the proposals and appealed to
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<br />GOV. ED HERSCHLER
<br />Referees debate
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<br />2/3/76 - p. 5
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<br />the governor, After a game department lour 01 the area ordered by
<br />the governor, acreage proposed for the elk range was halved,
<br />. Constituent complaints brought the matter to the attention of
<br />Sen, Gale McGee who chaired a U,S, Senate hearing on the matter
<br />In Baggs last October,
<br />Both he and Gov, Hershler urged the game department and local
<br />'officials to hammer out a compromise,
<br />Testimony was heard at Wednesday's meeting lIere by the
<br />commission from members of the Little Snake River Water Con-
<br />servancy District and from members of the game department
<br />Questions posed by Jack Hull, chairman of the commission, and
<br />by the governor revealed that the game department's plimary
<br />worry is the potential for game damage of <:rops which might be
<br />intensified by the project
<br />Gov, Herschler then asked, "Is It possible that If damages can be
<br />taken care of, you wouldn't need to acqutre any land?" He pointed
<br />out that In his native area - Kemmerer - paneling Installed
<br />around haystacks has pared damages significantly,
<br />After conversation with members of the ranchers' gorup about
<br />the possibllity for reducing damages, Hull suggested devising a
<br />formula which would impose game damage prevention measures
<br />such as paneling and fences, The cost of erecting the facilities
<br />would be assessed the project They would be financed by a special
<br />fund created to maintain the structures,
<br />, One possible source lor such a fund, he suggested, might be the $5
<br />hunting license fee currently paid to the landowners where game is
<br />hunted,
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<br />Ed Wren, spokesman for the water project officials, praised the
<br />idea, noting that it would eliminate costly purchases of land for
<br />condemnation while still achieving the goal of reducing damage
<br />danger,
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<br />A stickier Iss~e discussed at the meeting was the establishment
<br />of guaranteed public easements along 39 miles of stream below the
<br />proposed dam, Wren and Tom Cobb, another member of the
<br />Conservancy Board, poinled out that the project and its assured
<br />water flow would benefit the fishing public,
<br />uBul," asked commissioner Floyd Carr, "qf what benefit is it if
<br />we can't get to It?" He suggested that future generations of lan-
<br />downers might not be wllling to open their land to fishermen,
<br />Wren maintained that lIshlng should be handled the same way
<br />that hunting Is, FIshermen should secure landowner permission
<br />before setting foot on his property, He pointed out that in Colorado
<br />the landowner must permit fishing If the fishermen gets penniss!on
<br />first If the state stocks the stream,
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