Letter April 11 2008 Concerning Comments of the SOuthwester Water Conservation District in response to Notice of Availability of Draft San Juan Public Lands Land Management Plan and Draft Envrionmental Impact Statement

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April 11, 2008 Page 18 recommendations with regard to eligibility and suitability designations, many of which were not addressed in the Draft Plan. Numerous eligibility listings need to be reconsidered, based on a lack of compliance with the WSR Act in relationship to i) the free flowing nature of the streams; ii) the "Area of Consideration "; iii) the lack of appropriate outstandingly remarkable values (ORVs) of regional or national import directly on a stream; and iv) the percentage of private land in a stream segment. Therefore, portions of a number of streams designated as eligible need to be removed from the eligibility designation. Further, numerous suitability designation discussions fail to clearly define any compelling reason why suitability designation is the best ORV protection option. While the SWCD recognizes that there may have been internal agency efficiencies in the performance of a suitability evaluation in an EIS addressing both Draft Plan and WSR issues and in looking at individual stream segments in the broader context of the Draft EIS, SWCD Roundtable representatives strongly suggested the WSR Suitability designation process as a discrete step, outside of the pressures of the Plan Revision process, to allow sufficient time and effort for the necessary evaluation of water rights conflicts and WSR alternatives, rather than having the suitability designation process compressed into the Plan revision work. A more extensive suitability designation review process could have encouraged appropriate consideration up front of alternative, collaborative value protection methodologies, other than a suitability designation, without any need for reopener language. Although "Draft Wild and Scenic Eligibility Analysis Papers," dated May 3, 2006, and Chapter 80 of Wild and Scenic River Evaluation effective January 31, 12006 of FSH 1909.12 - Land Management Handbook (the "Handbook ") may encourage a suitability evaluation at the time of management plan revisions, the documents do not mandate such an evaluation, given the complexity and time pressures involved in the publication of the Draft Plan and Draft EIS. B. Thorough Discussion of Need for Specific WSR Suitability Designations as Best Alternative Required. 1. Introduction. Pursuant to the SJPL /Colorado MOUs and the innovative management approach the SWCD expects from the SJPLC, the Appendix "D" exploration of management techniques for the protection of ORVs without a WSR suitability designation, which would entail numerous conflicts with significant other Southwest Colorado values, must be expanded to document the compelling need for WSR suitability designations. The introduction to the suitability analysis states that the suitability designation process is to answer certain questions, including: Will the river's free - flowing character, water quality, and outstandingly remarkable values be protected through designation? Is designation the best method for protecting the river corridor? In answering these questions, the benefits and impacts of Wild and Scenic River designation must be evaluated and alternative protection methods considered. Draft Plan, Appendix D, at p. D -7. (Emphasis added.)