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<br />~GljJ3 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON <br />CONGRESSIONAL TOUR <br />August 16-17,2001 <br /> <br />Colorado River Water Conservation District <br /> <br />The Colorado River Water Conservation District (River District) was chartered by the Colorado <br />General Assembly in 1937 to develop and protect Colorado's compact entitled waters under the 1922 <br />Colorado River Compact and to meet the present and future water needs of its inhabitants. The <br />River District covers all of Western Colorado north of the San Juan Mountains and west of the <br />continental divide including the entire Gunnison River Basin. <br /> <br />The major issue currently facing the Gunnison River Basin is the quantification of reserved rights <br />held by the United States for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. In a parallel process, <br />the Recovery Program for Four Endangered Fish is working on a programmatic (or basin-wide) <br />biological opinion for the Gunnison River Basin. This proposed biological opinion (PBO) is critical <br />to the continued operation of all existing federal projects and many private water diversions within <br />the basin. At the last meeting of the PBO work group on June 26, 2001 in Montrose, there was <br />unanimous agreement that further progress on the PBO is impossible until a number of major issues <br />associated with the quantification of the Black Canyon Reserved Right are setlled. Accordingly, the <br />PBO process was put on hold. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The Gunnison River can be fairly characterized as a federally-dominated stream system. The Basin <br />includes six active Reclamation Projects, the Wayne N. Aspinall Unit (a three-reservoir component <br />of the Colorado River Storage Project System), a National Park, a National Recreation Area and <br />miles of river reach designated as critical habitat for the four native Colorado River fishes listed as <br />endangered under the Endangered Species Act. All of the Basin's major reservoirs, including Blue <br />Mesa Reservoir, Colorado's largest, were built by the Bureau of Reclamation. All these public <br />features and hundreds of other private features can be adversely affected by an overly aggressive <br />approach by the National Park Service to the quantification. <br /> <br />Because the Black Canyon Reserved Right is located just downstream of the Aspinall Unit and has <br />a decree which is potentially senior to the decrees for the Aspinall Unit, the fundamental question <br />of how much water is available from the Aspinall Unit for delivery for other (non-Black Canyon) <br />purposes, including to downstream endangered species needs, will not be known until the right is <br />quantified or an agreement is made that its priority will not affect the water supply to the Aspinall <br />Unit. Thus, the importance of a resolution to the quantification in a timely and effective manner <br />which addresses the numerous federal and local needs, including the pressing water requirements <br />associated with the endangered fish recovery effort. <br /> <br />Further, because one of the Gunnison basin's most senior water rights is just two miles above the <br />confluence of the Gunnison River with the Colorado River, a change in the historical operations <br />which results in Blue Mesa no longer releasing to satisfy this senior right, would cause nearly the <br />. entire basin to lose water it has relied upon since the Aspinall Unit's completion. <br /> <br />15 <br /> <br />C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\COLRIVERW ATERCONSERBRIEFINGPAPER,DOC <br />