Curecanti National Recreation Area: Personal Watercraft Use Enviornmental Assessment

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PURPOSE of AND NEED FOR ACTION The prehistoric and historic stories of human culture in the Curecanti area are recorded in the traces and tracks left by Native Americans, miners, railroaders, and ranchers. The signs document not only the human struggles to survive but also how changing human value systems; economic, social, and technological changes; and the importance of water have shaped the use and character of the land and its people. Cultural history contains archeological examples of some of the oldest villages found in North America, predating the building of the pyramids. • The narrow -gauge railroad exhibit in Cimarron graphically portrays the story of technology's effects of shaping people and using land; the agony and difficulties of building track in narrow canyons in the winter where the sun seldom shined; and of taking the hard way instead of the easy trail. Examples of a locomotive, tender, and caboose used on the railroad are on exhibit at Cimarron. • Curecanti will preserve, protect, and interpret the tremendous collection of nationally significant, diverse natural and cultural resources balanced with the provision of outstanding recreational opportunities. The park's mission statement is as follows: "Curecanti National Recreational Area will preserve, protect, and interpret the tremendous collection of nationally significant, diverse natural and cultural resources balanced with the provision of outstanding recreational opportunities." BACKGROUND NPS ORGANIC ACT AND MANAGEMENT POLICIES By enacting the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916, Congress directed the National Park Service to manage units under its jurisdiction "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations" (16 USC 1). Congress reiterated this mandate in the Redwood National Park Expansion Act of 1978 by stating that the National Park Service must conduct its actions in a manner that will ensure no "derogation of the values and purposes for which these various areas have been established, except as may have been or shall be directly and specifically provided by Congress" (16 USC 1 a -1). Despite these mandates, the Organic Act and its amendments afford the National Park Service latitude when making resource decisions that balance visitor recreation and resource preservation. By these acts Congress "empowered the National Park Service with the authority to determine what uses of park resources are proper and what proportion of the parks resources are available for each use" (Bicycle Trails Council ofMarin v. Babbitt, 82 F.3d 1445, 1453 (9th Cir. 1996)). Yet, courts consistently interpreted the Organic Act and its amendments to elevate resource conservation above visitor recreation. Michigan United Conservation Clubs v. Lujan, 949 F.2d 202, 206 (6th Cir. 199 1) states, "Congress placed specific emphasis on conservation." The National Rifle Assn ofAmerica V. Potter, 628 F.Supp. 903, 909 (D.D.C. 1986) states, "In the Organic Act Congress speaks of but a single purpose, namely, conservation." The NPS Management Policies also recognize that resource conservation takes precedence over visitor recreation. The policy dictates "when there is a conflict between conserving resources and values and providing for enjoyment of them, conservation is to be predominant" (NPS Management Policies 2001, sec. 1.4.3). M