Laserfiche WebLink
significantly reduce the larger flows that occur in the Central Platte area" because of compact <br />limitations and presence of Lake McConaughy)] .4 <br />10. The DEIS contains extensive unsupported speculation which should be <br />removed from the document. <br />The DEIS contains extensive speculation that must be substantiated by data and <br />references or removed from the document. The history of habitat use and trends for the target <br />species, and the impact analysis, are not factual or objective. Examples are set forth in <br />Colorado's Specific Comments. <br />11. The DEIS contains a number of internal inconsistencies. <br />The DEIS should be revised to remedy a number of internal inconsistencies. These are <br />discussed in Colorado's Specific Comments. <br />12. The Proposed Program is a response to the unique conditions that exist in the <br />Platte River watershed, especially for Colorado. <br />For Colorado water users, blending new resource requirements into a 150- year -old, highly <br />developed system of water use that includes an interstate compact and is experiencing <br />tremendous urban growth poses many obstacles and issues that are not easily resolved. The <br />issues are all the more difficult where the endangered species' habitat is geographically removed. <br />The Platte Project water users want to do what is necessary and reasonable to resolve habitat <br />issues on the Platte River as reflected in their efforts in building a negotiated program, but <br />caution others to be mindful that a collaborative, practical, and reasonable program is imperative <br />to a successful outcome for the species and for the people living in the state. A program that is <br />not collaborative, but overly regulatory, will not be successful. <br />13. Additional References. <br />4 If the EIS team conducts such a reexamination, it should 1) discount concerns that water yield <br />increases from forest management are difficult to differentiate from other flow changes at a basin -wide level <br />downstream, because "both paired- watershed experiments and hydrologic theory indicate that this increase <br />in flow would be present," MacDonald/Stednick Report, p. 40, and the EIS consultant has begun to develop <br />a reference system to document flow increases indirectly, 2003 Troendle Report, p. 18; and 2) examine <br />costs and benefits from the full range of available vegetation management techniques, including prescribed <br />burns and forest thinning, including any projected revenues to be derived therefrom. 2000 Troendle Report, <br />p. 13. <br />-19- <br />