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-- time when the income from state lands provided 100% of the support for public schools and at a time when the federal government was seeking to encomage the settlement of the new frontier. Today. obviously. with the growth issues that we face in Colorado. we're not looking to settle all available lands in the state and the income produced off state lands encompasses about lh of 1 % of the total state education budget for K-12 education. But the constitution says (again. it was adopted 120 years ago) that the State Umd Board needs to obtain the maximwn possible amount of revenue from the management of those lands. That management directive often conflicts with local visions, local land use priorities and the use of existing leases on the land. A year ago. the Governor asked the State Umd Board to conduct a comprehensive study of its processes and the way it does its business. And, the Umd Board contracted with the Natural Resources UlW Center at CU to do that. UIst fall the study was released. It provided some 29 recommendations about changes in the way the land Board should do its business. The Governor and I both fully support those recommendations and are working with the Land Board to implement those. However. the Governor feels that not all of this, the new directions, can be established under the existing constitutional mandate. We're interested in two specific issues. One. I believe it's important to broaden the State Umd Board from three full-time commissioners appointed for six-year terms to a citizen board structure that would have more commissioners with broader representation of the interests that are affected by state land management. Those include education, agriculbJre and local government as particular interests that should be specifically represented. The second aspect is to broaden the mandate and the mission of the Land Board to be more responsive to the values in Colorado today. State lands still need to generate revenue for the support of K-12 education but I believe that state lands should be managed in a way that is more consistent with working with local school districts -- for example. in siting school buildings on state lands, or addressing the impacts development of state lands has on local school districts. Those lands should be managed With a view toward long-term sustainable production, and that includes working with agricultural lessees to preserve agriculbJre production on those lands. Those lands should be managed to be consistent with local land use regulations. land use processes, and the values that are established in local land use plans. And, they should be managed consistent with the desires of local areas for open space and other uses of those lands. I think all those things can be done through a broadened mission of the State Umd Board while still generating a significant amount of revenue for public education. Senator Tebedo has obtained a bill title for the legislabJre to do a referendwn for a ballot initiative this fall and I hope the legislature takes a very serious look at this issue. I would hope and encourage those of you who are interested in this issue to express your input to me directly. to your local representative and those who are interested in state land management. I think it's a real important issue. Again, for the fubJre of this valley. there is a lot of state land in the Arkansas Valley that is very critically located, and I think it's important that you in the basin have a direct voice in how those lands are used and managed. The next thing I want to talk about in the year ahead is the issue of the development of a new state park in southeastern Colorado. A few years ago. the Governor formed the Lower Arkansas River Commission to look at the recreation needs of southeastern Colorado. That Commission made a nwnber of recommendations that have been supported by the Governor and the Department of Natural Resources since that time. Included in those recommendations is the recognition that many water issues in the basin, including the resolution of the Kansas litigation and internal water issues in Colorado, need to be resolved and will affect our progress in reaching our goal of the new state park, Since the time of those recommendations, our focus has been in two primary areas: (1) moving water to Trinidad Reservoir to increase the recreation pool; and (2) stabilizing the water levels in the Great Plains Reservoirs to make it possible to establish a ' new state park. i; I am pleased to report that we are at long-last making substantial progress through the Arkansas Compact Administration in resolving the issues surrounding Trinidad Reservoir. I want to recognize the cooperation of the , officials of the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, and officials in Kansas in helping us achieve thiS progress. I hope that next year we will be in a position to move water into Trinidad for recreational purposes and realize a long- held goal in that regard. Arkansas River Basin Water Forum 5 "A River of Dreams and Realities"