4000

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 4000
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Report on Water For Energy in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1974.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

"The purpose of this Act is to implement this policy by
instituting a national wild and scenic rivers system, by
designating the initial components of that system, and by
prescribing the methods by which the standards according to
which additional components may be added to the system from
time to time."

Section 3(a) of the Act established a National Wild and Scenic
System by designating eight rivers as immediate components of that
system. Additional rivers can be added to the system by Federal or
State legislation and by approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
Section 5(a) designated 27 other rivers for detailed (Level C) study
as potential additions to the National System and set forth a
mechanism whereby the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture may
recommend that Congress add new rivers to the original 27.

Thirteen bills were introduced during the first session of the
93rd Congress either to amend Section 3(a), P.L. 90-542 which would
add specific rivers as immediate components of the National System,
or amend Section 5(a) which would require study of specific rivers
as potential additions to the system. Most pertinent, however, is
the Department's news release of June 20, 1974, which states that
the Secretary of the Interior has asked Congress to authorize the
study of 32 rivers in 24 States to determine their suitability for
addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Three of
these are in the Upper Colorado Region. They are:

Colorado, Colorado and Utah: The main stem from the confluence
of the Gunnison River to the confluence of the Dolores River
including the Dolores River below the proposed McPhee Dam but
excluding the segment from one mile above Highway 90 to the
confluence of the San Miguel River.

Green, Utah and Colorado: The entire river below Flaming
Gorge Reservoir, except for the reach from the town of Jensen,
Utah, to the boundary of the Dinosaur National Monument.

White, Colorado and Utah: The entire river.

The river studies would be completed and reported to Congress within
3 full fiscal years after authorization. In the case of rivers
where energy related development is likely, such as the White River,
the studies would be carried out within one year of authorization.

The Escalante River in Utah and the Green River in Wyoming from its
source to Horse Creek are the only rivers in the Upper Basin identified

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