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<br />minimum amount of water needed and was legally specific: "The fact that the entire flow <br />is needed is a sufficient quantification ofthe right." One of the federal attorneys <br />elaborated: "Indeed, it is neither possible nor necessary to quantify a reserved right for a <br />national park in numerical terms. Natural systems are simply too complex and <br />variable..." (Hill 1993). The same kind of water right protecting all unappropriated <br />flows was recently stipulated for the west side of the park. (Stipulation, September 29, <br />2000. Civil Action No. 1768, Water Division No.5). Rocky Mountain National Park is <br />an "upstream" park, with most of its streams originating within the park. <br /> <br />The same court that ruled on the eastside of Rocky Mountain National Park had <br />previously denied a federally reserved water right protecting the instream flows thought <br />to be needed to maintain the natural characteristics of stream channels in the national <br />forest surrounding the park (Decision, December 29, 1993, Case No. W-8439-76, Water <br />Division No.1). The court distinguished the two cases on the strength of the primary <br />purposes of the national park, as opposed to the primary purposes of the national forest. <br />The court found that one of the primary purposes of a national forest was to maintain <br />"favorable water flows," but determined that the development of those flows was <br />included in that purpose. Although the maintenance of stream channels in pristine <br />condition would serve the purpose of a national park, it would frustrate the water <br />development purpose of a national forest. <br /> <br />The NPS and the State of Utah reached an agreement concerning federal reserved <br />rights for instream flows in Zion National Park (Zion National Park Water Rights - <br />Settlement Agreement, December 4, 1996, United States-Utah-Washington County <br />Water Conservancy District-Kane County Water Conservancy District). For most of the <br />streams of Zion National Park, the federal right has been decreed under Utah adjudication <br />procedures as an instream right consisting of all the flows of the stream except for <br />designated amount of future depletion. The NPS subordinated its reserved rights to any <br />existing water right as of January 1, 1996, and any new diversions must be allowed <br />under the future development portion of this upside-down instream flow water right. <br />Zion National Park is not entirely an "upstream" park; large areas of the watershed for <br />the streams flowing through the park are located outside the park. <br /> <br />Wild and Scenic Rivers and Wilderness Areas. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management <br />(J;3LM) and the USFS have also negotiated upside-down instream flow water rights for <br />wild and scenic rivers under their management. The BLM and the State of Montana have <br />agreed to such a right for the upper Missouri River (Mont. Code Ann. 985-20-501, Art. <br />III, Sec. A). The compact endorses an instream flow right for all of the flows of the <br />designated reaches of the Missouri River, subject to all existing water appropriations and <br />to future development ranging from 35,000 acre-feet in September to 219,000 acre-feet in <br />May. The USFS negotiated a federally reserved water right for the designated reaches of <br />the Cache la Poudre River in Colorado that was quantified as the remaining, native flows <br />in those reaches, subject to valid prior appropriations (Decree, April 13, 1993, Case No. <br />86CW367, Water Division 1). <br /> <br />12 <br />