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<br />4. ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY <br /> <br />Water needs for recreation on the Arkansas River and its associated storage reservoirs were <br />determined by evaluating data from several recreation user surveys conducted in the basin. <br />The primary sources of data were from surveys designed specifically to assess the <br />relationship between stre,amflows and lake water levels and recreation <br />opportunities/experiences. These surveys consisted of an on-site survey conducted at <br />TurquQise, Twn, and Pueblo Reservoirs in 1994 and an off-site mail survey offrequent river <br />recreation users conducted in 1995. Both these surveys were designed by EDA W Inc. and <br />implemented by BLM and the Colorado Division of Outdoor Recreation and Parks. <br /> <br />In addition to these two surveys, data from three other sources were used to assess water <br />needs for recreation. These sources included a river recreation survey designed and <br />conducted by Virgina Polytechnical Institute VPI) in 1991, a creel census conducted by the <br />Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) in 1992, and a Focus Group meeting held in Salida in <br />1994. The 1991 VPI study and the 1992 DOW census were not designed specifically to <br />assess river flow preferences. However, both surveys contained questions regarding river <br />flows and the affect of flows on the recreation experience. The 1994 Focus Group meeting <br />focused specifically on flow related iss~es. <br /> <br />In total, information from over 4,000 different users was used in determining water needs for <br />recreation (river and reservoir). The data includes surveys of experienced users, casual <br />users, private boaters, commercial boaters, and anglers of all types for all six segments of the <br />river from Leadville to Pueblo Reservoir and all four of the basin reservoirs. Of the users <br />surveyed regarding river conditions, approximately 60 percent were anglers and 40 percent <br />were boaters. Activities surveyed at the reservoirs differed according to the individual <br />reservoir. Tables 4.1 and 4.2 summarize data used for the river analysis. Table 4.3 <br />summarizes activities surveyed at each reservoir. <br /> <br />Data analysis focused primarily on identifying any significant relationships between <br />reported experiences and river flow/lake level. Typical analyses included evaluating how <br />average responses to specific questions varied with changing flows/lake levels as well as <br />how the percentage of individuals providing a particular response to a given question <br />changed as flows/lake levels changed. <br /> <br />Arkansas River Water Needs Assessment <br />Recreation Report - Draft <br /> <br />Page 6 <br />September 20, 1996 <br />