Upper Colorado River Stakeholder Group Conceptual Plan for a Wild and Secnic Management Alternative June 30 2009

• Description: Upper Colorado River Stakeholder Group Conceptual Plan for a Wild and Secnic Management Alternative June 30 2009
• State: CO
• Date: 6/30/2008
• Title: Upper Colorado River Stakeholder Group Conceptual Plan for a Wild and Secnic Management Alternative June 30 2009
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

June 30, 2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Upper Colorado Wild and Scenic Stakeholder Group ( "Stakeholder Group" or "SG ") is
working together in good faith to develop a Management Plan Alternative that would protect the
outstandingly remarkable values ( "ORVs ") of Segments 4 through 7 of the Colorado River, as
identified in the 2007 Eligibility Report ( "2007 Eligibility Report") issued by the Bureau of Land
Management ( "BLM "). The Management Plan Alternative will be proposed to the BLM as a
potential Wild and Scenic Rivers management alternative in the BLM Resource Management
Plan revision process.2 The Stakeholder Group's intention is to develop a collaborative plan that
balances the following: permanent protection of the ORVs; certainty for the stakeholders; water
project yield; and flexibility for land owners, management agencies and water users.
This Conceptual Plan lays out a framework for development of the Management Plan
Alternative. The Conceptual Plan was developed cooperatively by a group of stakeholders and
consulting agencies representing a diverse range of interests. It lays out the group's progress to
date and intentions for additional data gathering, analysis and collaborative planning. The group
will continue to work together throughout 2008 and 2009 to gather adequate information to
develop more specific elements and details of the Management Plan Alternative. The goal of the
group is to furnish additional information to BLM as needed to satisfy NEPA requirements
supporting issuance of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ( "EIS "), and to complete the
detailed final Management Plan Alternative for submission to and consideration by BLM prior to
its issuance of a Final EIS and Record of Decision on the final plan.
The geographic scope of the Management Plan Alternative will encompass the Upper Colorado
River from the top of Gore Canyon, Colorado extending downstream to a point one mile east of
No Name Creek. This reach correlates with Colorado River Segments 4 through 7 as described in
BLM's 2007 Eligibility Report (See Appendix C; Figures C -1 through C -4). The Management
Plan Alternative will cover BLM lands within 1/4 mile of the river, and may also cover land
owned by or within the jurisdiction of state, local and private interests within the river corridor
with the consent of those landowners and other management agencies. In the development of the
Management Plan Alternative, the Stakeholder Group will consider impacts to areas outside of
these segments.
This Conceptual Plan focuses primarily on the flow -based ORVs of recreational floatboating and
recreational fishing, as identified in BLM's 2007 Eligibility Report. Flow protection is one of
the strongest features of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act but, more importantly, it is the aspect that
state and local entities are most able to influence. Although the Stakeholder Group is focused
primarily on flow protection, the Management Plan Alternative will consider whether flow
protections recommended for recreational fishing and recreational floatboating are protective of
other ORVs, which may or may not be flow dependent. Where the recommended flows do not
protect the other ORVs, the Stakeholder Group will consider measures that would be
complementary to land management actions adopted by the BLM to protect the river's ORVs
and classification. The Management Plan Alternative will address all ORVs identified by the
z The Stakeholder Group makes no joint recommendation, at this time, on whether BLM should proceed with a
"suitability" determination, postpone such determination, or abandon it altogether.
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