River Protection Workgroup Initial River Protection Tools/Mechanisms

Home Browse Search

A Gold Medal Water is a lake or stream that supports a trout standing stock of at least 60 pounds per acre, and contains an average of at least 12 quality trout per acre. The designation results in management actions intended to preserve and protect the habitat values of these waters. The trout in a Gold Medal stream reach may continue to be a stocked fishery. VII. National Conservation Areas ( "NCAs"): Because no "organic act" establishes parameters for the designation of NCAs (both wilderness and wild & scenic rivers are defined by organic acts), NCA legislation can be crafted to meet the needs of specific areas. While NCA designations are flexible and usually refer to BLM lands, their enacting legislation often includes provisions such as the following: 1. The purpose of a NCA is to conserve and protect the range of natural and other values in the area, such as cultural, archaeological, natural, wilderness, scientific, geological, historical, biological, wildlife, educational, and scenic resources of the NCA; 2. Motorized vehicle use may be limited to designated routes. (Most public lands, including the BLM's San Juan Resource Area and the San Juan National Forest, have already transitioned to a designated route system.); 3. The NCA is subject to valid existing rights (ie. preexisting mineral leases and valid mining claims), but the NCA legislation may withdraw all public land within an NCA's from future mining, leasing, and disposal activities; 4. The managing agency must establish a management plan, including a comprehensive travel management plan. Aside from these components, the legislation can be tailored to a specific community. Nothing prohibits or changes livestock grazing within an NCA; important historic structures can be protected; and valid existing rights are protected. Wilderness Areas can be designated inside an NCA. NCA legislation has not generally included a new federal reserved water right. If the managing agency should determine that water rights are needed for a NCA, they must be applied for according to the laws of the state of the NCA, and are subject to the same process as any other water right. NCAs can provide landscape protections that help maintain their existing character, while allowing flexibility in defining how they will be managed. NCAs are multiple use, often include a variety of activities, ranging from livestock grazing and all forms of recreation to wilderness designation and conservation of historic and cultural sites. Note: Numerous other federal designations exist, such as National Recreation Areas, National Scenic Areas, and Special Management Areas, but they all share many attributes of NCA's, so the description above serves as their template. VIII. Outstanding Waters: This is the most protective classification of water standards under the Colorado Water Quality Control Act. C.R.S. § 25 -8 -101 et seq. Outstanding waters must have low enough levels of pollution from twelve chemical and biological constituents to meet this standard. Outstanding waters are not allowed any new, permanent sources of degradation from manmade sources of pollution such as sewerage 5