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tributaries. This additional streamflow will provide an economic benefit to a variety of users and consumers. User groups that may derive benefits will include: hydro-electric generation facilities, fishing, rafting and general tourism interests. User groups that will benefit from the project will include irrigated agriculture, livestock and municipal water interests. A report prepared by the Utah Division of Water Resources estimated that the additional streamflow that results from a large winter orographic weather modification program being operated in the State of Utah by NA WC is being produced for approximately $1.02 per acre foot (Stauffer, 2001). The value of this water, depending upon its use, is probably in the range of$lO- $50 per acre-foot in primary benefits. There are a number of secondary benefits as well, for example the impacts on tourism, which increases the value of this water. Increases in tourism also generate additional sales tax revenues, which will benefit Gunnison County and the State of Colorado. s. Indicate How the Proposed Proiect is Reasonably Expected to Benefit Both Persons Livin!! in the Tar!!et Area and the People of Colorado The expected economic benefits to Gunnison County were documented in the previous section. There will be additional general benefits including increases in timber growth, increases in water stored in under-ground aquifers, increased spring flows, and carry-over storage in reservoirs from one year to another which may lessen the impacts of future droughts in the area. Some of the additional water generated by the project will flow downstream into other Colorado counties (e.g. Montrose, Delta, Pitkin, and Chaffee Counties), which will derive economic and general benefits from this additional water (i.e. irrigation, hydro-electric generation, municipal water, tourism). Surrounding counties will also benefit from increased tourism in the area, which will generate additional tax revenue for these counties and the State of Colorado. 7 6. Indicate How the Proposed Proiect is ScientificaUy and Teehnically Feasible A Policy Statement on Planned and Inadvertent Weather Modification adopted by the American Meteorological Society in 1998 (AMS, 1998) which states in part "There is statistical evidence that precipitation from supercooled orographic clouds (clouds that develop over mountains) has been seasonably increased by about 10%. The physical cause-and-effect relationships, however, have not been fully documented. Nevertheless, the potential for such increases is supported by field measurements and numerical model simulations." NA WC's design for this project is directed at winter supercooled orographic clouds. This AMS statement provides scientific support to NA WC's design. This policy statement was no doubt based in part upon earlier research programs conducted in Colorado that were referenced earlier (Climax I and II and the Colorado River Basin Pilot Project). Another research program of relevance to the design of this project was conducted in the Jemez and Sierra Nacimiento Mountains of northern New Mexico from 1969 to 1972. This project utilized ground based portable silver iodide generators to seed portions of winter orographic storms on a randomized basis. A statistical analysis of the effects of the seeding indicated an increase of 13% during the seeded 24-hour periods (Keyes, et aI, 1972).