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Carefully crafted language in the new <br />agreement also helped resolve a long- stand- <br />ing issue of contention for the Poudre - <br />federal reserved water rights. Filed in the <br />Greeley water court, resolution came in <br />the form of an agreed -upon decree for an <br />express federal reserved water right with <br />a priority date of October 30, 1986, for <br />"all of the native water arising upon or <br />flowing through the designated segments <br />of the Cache la Poudre River, subject to <br />valid prior appropriations under Colorado <br />law." This agreement also protected use <br />of the Poudre for importation and car- <br />riage of trans - mountain imported water. <br />Because water management interests had <br />long fought against federal reserved water <br />right claims, the agreement to recognize <br />such a right for the Poudre speaks volumes <br />about the compromise. <br />Christopher Brown of the American <br />Rivers Conservation Council held up the <br />compromise as a new precedent for nation- <br />al action, calling it "a major breakthrough <br />in the Wild and Scenic River Act." <br />Next Steps: A Heritage Area <br />Brown next turned his attention toward <br />implementation of a National Recreation <br />Area Study on the Poudre River, also <br />authorized under the Wild and Scenic <br />Act. The three -year study investigated the <br />potential federal recreation designation of <br />an 18.5 -mile section through the Fort <br />Collins urban growth area. <br />Brown viewed a National Recreation Area <br />as a means of improving recreational oppor- <br />tunities in the corridor between Greeley and <br />Fort Collins where a bike trail was under <br />construction to ultimately connect the two <br />cities. He stressed that water and private <br />property rights would be preserved. <br />By the time the study was finalized in <br />September 1989, it had evolved and expand- <br />ed into creation of a "National Heritage <br />Corridor" with emphasis on environmental <br />and historic education within the entire <br />Poudre basin. <br />Brown introduced the "Cache la Poudre <br />National Heritage Corridor Act" in June <br />1990. Surrounded by political infight- <br />ing, the bill died in committee. However, <br />Brown remembered his early defeats with <br />the Wild and Scenic designation and <br />kept pursuing a bill. He also increased <br />his leverage with a move from the United <br />States House of Representatives to the <br />United States Senate. Elected in 1990, he <br />vowed to get another Poudre bill passed <br />before he left office. Little did he know <br />how close he would cut it. <br />Brown asked again for local help. The <br />City of Fort Collins, Latimer County and <br />the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy <br />District responded by funding a study to deter- <br />mine how to proceed. The theme "History <br />of Water Development in the Westward <br />Expansion of the United States" emerged <br />as the basis for legislation. The National <br />Park Service prepared a study assessing the <br />Poudre's national significance. It determined <br />that the Poudre had national significance <br />relating to water law and water development. <br />Brown introduced two more bills in <br />1991 and 1993 seeking Heritage Area <br />designation for the Poudre; both failed. <br />In February 1995, after nearly two years <br />of rewriting, Brown introduced Senate Bill <br />342, the "Cache la Poudre River National <br />Water Heritage Act." On the last day of the <br />legislative session —and Brown's last offi- <br />cial day as a senator —the 104th Congress <br />passed the bill giving the Poudre status as <br />Colorado's first National Water Heritage <br />Area. The bill authorized a commission to <br />coordinate and develop a plan to interpret <br />the history of water law and water develop- <br />ment on the Poudre. <br />Brown prepared to leave Congress after <br />16 years. He had spent a good deal of his <br />energy promoting the Poudre River and <br />he deserved much of the credit for the <br />two bills passed by Congress nearly 10 <br />years apart. Brown facilitated negotiations <br />between very diverse groups, including <br />environmentalists, concerned citizens and <br />water managers, all of whom viewed the <br />Poudre as an essential resource in their <br />community, albeit for different reasons. <br />By the 21st century, the citizen's of <br />northern Colorado had two national desig- <br />nations for the Cache la Poudre River that <br />they could all take pride in. The Poudre is <br />Colorado's only Wild and Scenic River and <br />it is also a National Heritage Area. But more <br />than that, the Poudre is a unique river born <br />of compromise —a working resource and a <br />protected treasure. ❑ <br />References <br />David Boyd, A History: Greeley and the <br />Union Colony of Colorado (Greeley: <br />Greeley Tribune Press, 1890). <br />Howard Ensign Evans and Mary Alice Evans, <br />Cache la Poudre: The Natural History of a <br />Rocky Mountain River (Niwot: University <br />Press of Colorado, 1991). <br />Rose Laflin, Irrigation, Settlement, and <br />Change on the Cache la Poudre River (Fort <br />Collins: Colorado Water Resources <br />Research Institute, 2005). <br />National Park Service, Rocky Mountain <br />Region, Resource Assessment: Proposed <br />Cache la Poudre River National Heritage <br />Corridor (December 1990). <br />Northern Colorado Water Conservancy <br />District, News clipping files 1977- <br />2006. <br />Alvin T. Steinel, History of Agriculture in <br />Colorado, 1858 -1926 (Fort Collins: <br />Colorado State Agricultural College, <br />1926). <br />United States Department of Agriculture, <br />Office of Experiment Stations. Bulletin <br />No. 92: The Reservoir System of the <br />Cache la Poudre Valley, by E.S. Nettleton <br />(Washington, D.C.: Government <br />Printing Office, 1901). <br />United States Department of Agriculture, <br />U. S. Forest Service, Final Environmental <br />Impact Statement and Study Report, Cache <br />la Poudre Wild and Scenic River (April <br />1980). <br />United States Department of the Interior, <br />U.S. Geological Survey, Water Supply <br />and Irrigation Paper: Irrigation Near <br />Greeley, Colorado, by David Boyd <br />(Washington, D.C.: Government <br />Printing Office, 1897). <br />United States Congress, Senate, An Act <br />Designating Segments of the Cache la <br />Poudre River in the State of Colorado as <br />a Component of the National Wild and <br />Scenic River System, Public Law 99 -590, <br />99th Congress, 2nd Session, August <br />1986. <br />About the Authors: Brian Werner is currently <br />the Public Information Officer for the Northern <br />Colorado Water Conservancy District. A <br />Colorado native with a Master's degree in his- <br />tory, he writes, researches and gives numerous <br />presentations on the development of water in <br />Colorado and the American West. He is the past <br />chairman of the Poudre River Trust and was on <br />the organizational group that helped establish <br />the Colorado Foundation for Water Education. <br />Rose Laflin has a Master's degree in History <br />from Colorado State University. Her areas of <br />interest include Western United States History <br />and Environmental History. Her report on the <br />history of irrigation along the Cache la Poudre <br />River was published in 2005 by the Colorado <br />Water Resources Research Institute. <br />CITIZEN' S GUIDE TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL ERA 1 23 <br />