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c.-, ~ ~ ~ t:',_.l Page 6-The Dally Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colorado Sunday, November 28.1976 Conservancy boards discuss repayment CRAIG - Members of two wa- ter conservancy districts that will contract for repayment of costs al- located to irrigators for the pro- posed Savery-Pot Hook Project in northwestern Colorado and south- western Wyoming discussed the draft form of the contracts at a meeting with Bureau of Reclama- tion representatives here Tuesday, The next step is to approve the draft, and the third step is to hold district elections for water users to vote on approval. The districts are Little Snake River in Wyoming and Pot Hook in Colorado, Felix Larry Sparks, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, has sent a' memorandum outlining comments of the board on the draft environmental im- pact statement on the project to Harris Sherman, executive direc- tor of the Department of Natural Resources, Harris will consider the memo and similar statements from other agencies in the department, including Fish and Wildlife, Utterly preposterous "From our review of the draft environmental statement and knowledge of the area, we con- clude that the adverse environ- mental impacts resulting from the project would be minimal," Sparks wrote, "However, the Fish and Wildlife Service contends that the project would cause deer herds in Colorado to be reduced by 600 animals, elk by 300 animals antelope by 1,250 animals, and sage grouse by 4,800 birds, We consider these figures to be ut- lerly preposterous, "The approximate 15,000 acres of new lands which will be de- voted to irrigated crop land is an insignificant portion of the over I two million acres of public land on which the deer, antelope, elk and sage grouse now roam, in Routt and Moffat Counties, In ad- dition, these animals and birds will continue to roam on the proj- ect lands as they now do on other irrigated lands in the area," Sparks wrote that the statement proposes acquisition of 16,000 acres of private land for the ben- efit of big game and bird hunters and other measures, Serious question "While this board has serious questions about the necessity for the proposed mitigation meas- ures, we do not oppose them in the interest of getting the Savory- , Pot Hook project under construc- tion," Sparks said, The project is a unit of the Colo- rado River Storage Project, and revenues from power generated at hydro-electric stations of the basin project will help repay con- struction costs to the U,S, Treasury,