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of the 1,000,000 acre foot average flow at the Juniper-Cross mountain sites would be protected instream if the water rights were purchased and changed, the converted rights would be subject to the same subordinations and would not impose a moratorium on upstream development. The reservation of 100,000 acre feet for future development would support another energy boom and all attendant municipal growth. A 100,000 acre foot reservoir upstream from occupied habitat on the Yampa River could provide flatwater recreation equivalent to Ruedi or Green Mountain Reservoirs. To the extent that the existing subordinations did not provide an acceptable margin for upstream development, a greater portion of these rights could be reserved, with the substantial balance of the water rights still being dedicated to the endangered fish. 3. The conversion of Juniper-Cross Mountain water rights to instream use is good water policy because it is consistent with Colorado's compact entitlements. Right now the existing flows of the Yampa River contribute significantly to the filling of Lake Powell and to meeting the Upper Colorado River Basin obligation to the Lower Basin under the Colorado River Compact of 1922. Converting the Juniper-Cross Mountain water rights to instream use would only institutionalize this contribution. It also appears that this kind of contribution from the Yampa River was contemplated at the time that the Upper Colorado River Compact of 1948 was drafted, and would have occurred if the 20