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001088 Final Environmental Assessment-Chapter 3-Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences construction dewatering, mobilization, permitting, and economy of scale. Future enhancements would also require approval from the dam owners, underlying fee title land owners, and the Recovery Program. Downstream Rock Fish Passage with Whitewater Recreation Features: This alternative would construct three grouted riprap weirs adjacent to a 860 foot fish passage channel for recreation enhancement. The weirs would create a series of pools and drops (whitewater features) at a gradient of2.0 percent. The additional costs over and above the Downstream Rock Fish Passage Alternative would be funded with non-Recovery Program funds. This would enable the whitewater features to be constructed at a lower cost because the site would already be dewatered for fish passage construction, provide cost savings on volume of material purchased, and the potential to share contract administration and construction mobilization costs. Recreational boating in this stretch of river would increase when compared to the Conventional Fish Ladder and Downstream Rock Fish Passage alternatives. Some trespass along Interstate 70 and at the Cameo Bridge to access the river above the Price- Stubb Diversion Dam may also occur, but downstream public access to the whitewater features obtained by the Town of Palisade would make trespass incidents negligible. CDOT has made downstream public access a condition of granting permission to construct the whitewater features to minimize trespass along Interstate 70. In addition, an emergency portage on river-left would provide safe access around the dam. The Town of Palisade and W.A.T.E.R. envision a world-class whitewater park using the whitewater features to host major events. This scale of recreation use could not be feasible without public access granted from Union Pacific Railroad and E.R. Jacobson. Access to the dam is controlled by the Union Pacific Railroad with a locked gate at the entrance to the access road. E.R Jacobson owns a large portion of the right river bank below the dam and has been supportive of a whitewater park. He has discussed easements and/or land donations with the Town of Palisade. The Union Pacific Railroad identified concerns with public access through the existing railroad right-of-way. Concerns include maintaining access to the railroad for maintenance and repairs and increased liability associated with the public in close proximity of the railroad tracks. These concerns would need to be addressed by the Town of Palisade before the Union Pacific Railroad would consider granting the Town a public easement through the Railroad right-of-way. Dam Removal: As stated in a January 1991 letter from Gary M. Lacy, P.E., removing the dam could create a naturally appearing, navigable segment of the river. This would open a spectacular canyon segment of the Colorado River to recreationaL.. boating." A possible put-in site is about 3 miles upstream at Colorado River State Park-Island Acres, from which boaters could float down the river to a variety of take-out points. Popular day use take-outs include Palisade; Colorado River State Parks-Corn Lake, Connected Lakes, Fruita; Blue Heron Lake, and Loma. Removalofthe Price-Stubb Dam would extend the 25 mile segment from Palisade to Loma by more than three miles. I i 35