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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. 1 April 11, 2008 Page 29 It is the best high - priority Colorado River authorized fishery in the Forest in the Dolores River ... GMU. Rio Lado was selected by the Forest Service as the better of two cutthroat populations on Forest Lands in the water shed. Draft Plan, Appendix D, p. D -21. (Emphasis added) The Rio Lado has been closed to grazing in the Rio Lado Allotment Management Plan, currently under an Environmental Assessment process. These measures will improve the CRCT population. Therefore, a WSR eligibility designation is inappropriate. The ORV of CRCT in the Rio Lado is not based on an appropriate Area of Consideration, even if Colorado has agreed to have "five separate, viable but inter - connected sub - populations in each ... GMU." Id. The Rio Lado is not a third order stream, which the SJPLC has stated is one of the criteria for WSR Eligibility. Funds have already been invested in barrier improvements on the Rio Lado riparian corridor, raising the question of a free flowing stream. Further, it is only "thought" that each GMU CRCT population has slightly different genetics. Appendix D, at p. D -21. The unique genetics would need to be proven. Although land along the Rio Lado is currently classified by Montezuma County as agricultural, this classification could change, increasing conflicts with a WSR eligibility designation. The SWCD concurs with the conclusion that if the Rio Lado continues to be designated as eligible in the Final Plan, it should not be designated as suitable. 3. West Dolores River The presence of a few black swift nests on the Falls and Eagle Creek tributaries of the West Dolores River does not rise to the level of an ORV within a regional or national "Area of Consideration," or even within Colorado, in the context of approximately 50 nesting pairs at Box Canyon Falls. Nests have persisted at Box Canyon for many decades, with no apparent adverse impact from a large number of visitors accessing the nesting area via metal stairs to view the swifts. In addition, the Draft Plan admits to utilizing an inappropriate Area of Consideration, in that of the ten streams with black swift nests on the SJPL, three were chosen for ORVs. Draft Plan, Appendix D, at p. D -25. The San Juan Public Land is not a regional or national Area of Consideration. A WSR eligibility designation for the West Dolores River based on black swift nests not on the mainstem, but only under tributary waterfall areas, is inappropriate. Black swift nests on a tributary cannot support a WSR eligibility designation on the mainstem. Draft Plan, Appendix D, at p. D -25, clearly states that "the black swift builds nests only at waterfalls ". No such waterfalls occur on the mainstem. In addition, the West Dolores River is not "nationally known" for fishing, neither does it rise to the level of exemplary even within Western Colorado, when compared to other river systems, such as the Gunnison.