Feds again trying to usurp historic state water rights

• Year: 2001
• Description: Feds again trying to usurp historic state water rights
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

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Colorado Trout Unlimited • Environmental Defense •High Country Citizens •
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Alliance • Land and Water Fund of the Rockies•Rocky Mountain Chapter Sierra •
Club• The Wilderness Society
May 3, 2001
The Honorable Wayne Allard
United State Senate
525 Dirksen Senate Office Building •
Washington,D.C. 20510
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Dear Senator Allard:
• On March 20, 200I,you sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Veneman seeking
resolution of what you described as a"serious issue"concerning the policy and authority of the
United States Forest Service to require by-pass flows as a condition for renewal of permits for
water diversion facilities on National Forest lands. On April 10th,an opinion piece in the Rocky •
Mountain News which you co-authored with Congressman McInnis asserted that bypass flows
constitute"the single largest threat to water users in Colorado." The undersigned organizations
would like to respond your concerns.
Ensuring that the Forest Service has the tools to protect water resources on National
. Forest lands is a matter of serious concern to our thousands of Colorado members and to all who
care about water resources on public lands. The threat Colorado faces is NOT that the federal
government might use congressional authority to protect rivers on Forest Service lands: The
- • problem Colorado faces is that its historic water rights system allows'streams to be dried up
completely, even on protected public land. And,with Colorado's explosive growth,the demands
on its streams are also increasing.
Dry streams are not only bad for fish,which need water every day. They are bad for
people Who appreciate rivers. They are bad for the wildlife and ecosystems that depend on the
sustenance and other values rivers provide. The Forest Service holds our National Forest lands in
trust for the American people. The Forest Service must have the tools to fulfill its trust
- responsibilities.
• When a water right owner gets a state court decree to use water,that decree does not
create any right of access across federal lands. For that,the water user must obtain a right of way
from the federal landowner..When the Forest Service grants such a right of way,it has the -
authority-to condition that privilege to protect important ecologic values,including•protecting of •
aquatic resources. A bypass flow is not a regulation;it is a.condition on the grant of a privilege
-of access.,It is part of the reasonable Compensation due to the American people for whom the
• National Forest lands and resources are held in trust. As such,imposition of a bypass flow is not
a taking of property, something both of your recent statements have suggested.
• The Forest Service has been using its bypass authority since 1960. But it uses this •
authority sparingly—in 1997,the Forest Service reported only 15 permits nation-wide where it
had imposed bypass flows. This number is tiny when compared to the 8000+special•use permits
for water activities on the National Forests. And,none of those instances resembles the private
• cabin scenario described in your opinion piece for the Rocky Mountain News. Bypass flows are
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clo CTU, 196613th Street, Suite LL60, Boulder, CO 80302
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