Curecanti National Recreation Area: Personal Watercraft Use Enviornmental Assessment

• Description: Colorado River Water Projects: Aspinall Storage Unit, Environmental Studies
• State: CO
• Basin: Gunnison
• Water Division: 4
• Date: 4/1/2003
• Author: National Park Service
• Title: Curecanti National Recreation Area: Personal Watercraft Use Enviornmental Assessment
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

PURPOSE OF AND NEED FOR ACTION
This environmental assessment evaluates three alternatives concerning the use of personal watercraft at
Curecanti. The alternatives include:
• Alternative A — Reinstate PWC use under a special regulation as previously managed in
accordance with NPS Management Policies 2001, park practices, and state regulations.
• Alternative B — Reinstate PWC use under a special regulation with additional management
prescriptions, such as limiting areas of use. Alternative B has been identified as the preferred
alternative.
• No Action Alternative — Eliminate PWC use entirely. No special rule would be promulgated.
This environmental assessment also includes an assessment of effect as provided for under the
National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106.
SCOPE OF THE ANALYSIS
Motorboats and other watercraft have been used in Curecanti since 1975. Personal watercraft have
emerged at Curecanti only since their introduction in the 1980s, and particularly since the summer of
1995 when personal watercraft were available for rent from a park concessioner. While some effects of
PWC use are similar to other watercraft and, therefore, difficult to distinguish, the focus of this action is
in support of decisions and rulemaking specific to PWC use. However, while the settlement agreement
and need for action have defined the scope of this environmental assessment, NEPA requires an analysis
of cumulative effects on resources of all past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions when added to
the effects of the proposal (40 CFR 1508.7, 2000). The scope of this analysis, therefore, is to define
management alternatives specific to PWC use, in consideration of other uses, actions, and activities
cumulatively affecting park resources and values.
PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CURECANTI NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
Congress establishes national park system units to fulfill specified purposes, based on a park's unique and
significant resources. Curecanti National Recreation Area's authorizing memorandum of agreement
serves as the basic building block for its decisions pertaining to conservation of resources and providing
for "enjoyment of future generations."
AUTHORIZING INTENT OF CURECANTI NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
The following statements are excerpts from the park's authorizing memorandum of agreement:
whereas the [Park] Service has been designated as the agency responsible
for [administering recreational use]
whereas a large number of persons are expected to use the lands and
waters of such withdrawn area for the purposes of recreation
whereas [an] Act ... authorizes the use of appropriated funds ... for the
administration, protection, improvement, and maintenance of areas ...
devoted to recreational use pursuant to cooperative agreements
0