Initial River Protection Tools/Mechanisms

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How wilderness designation affects water rights: Wilderness water rights are non-consumptive, in-stream flow rights. The water flows through and nourishes wilderness and the wildlife and habitat associated with it, then flows out, available for other uses. Wilderness designation does not affect existing water rights, and fully respects other water rights on the stream. Wilderness water rights cannot disrupt existing rights, facilities or project operations. Protection of water flows in wilderness may take a variety of forms, but none impinge on existing rights. Any wilderness water right would have a priority date of the actual reservation, would be junior to all existing water rights, and, therefore would not supplant other, more senior rights. In addition, wilderness water rights apply only to unappropriated water. Because they are junior rights and not "super" rights, wilderness water rights are subject to availability of unappropriated water. A wilderness water right ensures only that when water is available, does wilderness get its decreed portion to help protect natural values. -11- D. National Conservation Areas ("NCAs"): Because no "organic act" establishes parameters for the designation of NCAs (both wilderness and Wild and 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 (i.e., pre-existing mineral leases and valid mining claims), but the NCA legislation may withdraw all public land within an NCA 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 and often include a variety of activities, ranging from livestock grazing and