14d

• Board Meeting Date: 9/17/2008
• Description: Director's Report - CWCB Director
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Upper Colorado River Storage Project that would have buried the site where Warm Springs Rapids
formed in 1965 under several hundred feet of water. Likewise, the Green River rapids would have
disappeared, along with countless natural and cultural treasures that earned the surrounding 210,000 acres
designation as a national monument via presidential proclamation in 193 8.
Fortunately for fans of flowing water, the battle to preserve Echo Park marked the dawn of the modern
environmental movement, as public outcry steered by David Brower of the Sierra Club sparked
nationwide controversy over wilderness protection in an area theoretically dedicated to preserve nature.
Like Brower, many believed the Echo Park dam decision would set the precedent for all federally
protected lands. If a dam was allowed within this national monument, no park or monument would ever
be safe again.
Much of Brower's winning argument was built around the concept that solitude, wildness and risk
constitute play for some people, and such rare recreational opportunities exclusive to places like the
Yampa River through Dinosaur National Monument deserve to be preserved.
The fledgling whitewater industry grew in Colorado and Utah as Sierra Club members flocked to
Dinosaur to float the Yampa and Green rivers, creating films and publishing stories that caught attention
and ultimately won friends in Congress. The Colorado River Storage Project ultimately was approved in
1956, with the stipulation that "no dam or reservoir constructed under the authorization of the Act shall be
within any National Park or Monument."
Although approval of the CRSP meant the Green River was eventually dammed upstream of Dinosaur at
Flaming Gorge and downstream at the Colorado River's Glen Canyon, Brower considered the Echo Park
decision the finest hour of the American conservation movement, giving it the confidence and clout to
push forward. That same year, Congress began consideration of the National Wilderness Preservation
Act, ultimately approved eight years later. (Source: The Denver Post, 08/17/2008)
AGENCY UPDATES
REQUESTS FOR ADMINISTRATION OF ISF WATER RIGHTS: CWCB staff recently has
placed several calls for administration of the Board's instream flow water rights:
August 25, 2008 Fish Creek (Division 6)
Case No. 79CW104A - 2 cfs -Appropriation date: 3/14/1979
The following are water rights that were acquired by the CWCB and changed to instream flow use:
• Case No. 76W959F (Hoyle and Knight) - 2 cfs - Approp. date: 5/14/1910
• Case No. 76W959G (Hoyle and Knight) - 1 cfs - Approp. date: 10/01/1927
• Case No. 76W959H (Hoyle and Knight) - 1 cfs - Approp. date: 5/01/1942
• Case No. 76W591 (Park City #2) -- 1 cfs - Approp. date: 7/4/1963
• Case No. 76W959J (Welch and Waters) - 2.1 cfs - Approp. date: 8/01/1944
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