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000949 return pipeline during high flow events. The cofferdam and fish return pipeline outlet structure are considered discharges into "Water of the United States" and require authorization from the Army Corps of Engineers under the Clean Water Act. The proposed action would have no affe"ct on quality of the City of Grand Junction's water supplies. VEGETATION AND LAND USE During construction of the proposed action alternative, an increase in noise and traffic would occur. To date, Reclamation has not been advised of concerns regarding disturbances during, construction. Any complaints would be resolved on a case-by-case basis. Access for construction, operations and maintenance would utilize existing roadways. .~: The Gunnison River provides highly valued habitat and floodplain functions that need to be considered during construction of the fish screen. Existine: Conditions: The Gun.i1isori River Basin is primarily rural in nature. A majority of the roughly 8,000 square-mile watershed is comprised of National Forest or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Valleys are largely private and were originally developed for ranching, farming and mining. In.recent years, recreation, retirement living, and second-home development have become important. In the vicinity of the Redlands Diversion Dam, lands are a primarily a combination of privately owned parcels, sand and gravel operations, Redlands Water and Power Company, and federal lands managed by the BLM. The BLM owns the land on the west side of the Gunnison River at the Redlands Diversion Dam site. R WPC has used this BLM land since at least 1918. The Southern Pacific Railroad parallels the east bank of the Gunnison River in this area and primarily hauls coal in unit trains. The railroad and the Redlands Diversion Dam are the primary land use. The City of Grand Junction has a waterintake structure on the east side ofthe diversion dam on land leased from RWPC. This structure is located upstream of the proposed fish screen. Residential homes and limited farming occur downstream to confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers. The proposed fish screen site is located approximately l/4 miles downstream of the Redlands Diversion Dam. The area's dominate features include the Redlands Canal and a large linear riparian corridor between the canal and the Gunnison River (See Figure 3). ' The riparian corridor is dominated by mature cottonwoods trees, willows, Russian olives, tamarisk, wild rose, and skunkbush sumac. The area west ofthe canal, away from the influence of the river, changes to an upland community comprised predominately of greasewood, rabbitbrush and four-wing saltbush. Disturbed areas are dominated by kochia, bindweed, grasses and forbs. 14