Initial River Protection Tools/Mechanisms

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(a) Wild river areas are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. (b) Scenic river areas are free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. (c) Recreational river areas are readily accessible by road or railroad, may have some development along their shorelines, and may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past. An agency may actively recommend that Congress/the President decline to designate a WSR. Only Congress or the Secretary of the Interior ("Secretary") may designate a WSR. The managing agencies, with public input, develop a Protective Management Plan to protect and enhance the ORVs. Congressional designation has historically included a federal reserved water right, but an agency determination of suitability does not include a water right. An initial river study, designating legislation, and the subsequent Protective Management Plan process consider how best to protect ORVs while recognizing private property rights. While the WSRA carries no authority to control the use of privately owned land, the question arises, if a water user requires an easement or special use permit to use National Forest land within the WSR area, what restrictions might apply. On federally owned land, future development along a WSR is allowed as long as it is consistent with the river's classification and does not harm the river's ORVs. -8- Alterations to existing irrigation or water withdrawal facilities within the WSR area may be approved as long as there is no direct, adverse effect to the river's ORVs. A WSR may or may not have a federal reserved water right, depending on the method used to designate the river. In the one designated WSR in Colorado, the water language was negotiated. The WSRA prohibits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from licensing construction of a dam, water conduit, reservoir, powerhouse, transmission line or other project works under the Federal Power Act on or directly affecting a river designated as an actual or potential WSR system component. Section (§) 2 (a) (ii) Designation of a WSR: The process set forth in §§ 2(a)(ii) and 4(c) of the WSRA, subject to certain conditions, authorizes the Secretary to include a river, already protected by a state's river protection program, enacted by the state's legislature or a vote of the people, in the WSR system upon the request of the state's governor. The same eligibility and classification provisions that apply to congressionally designated rivers also apply to § 2(a)(ii) rivers. The river must also be administered by an agency or political subdivision of the state, except for lands already administered by the federal government, and there must be effective mechanisms and regulations in place — local, state or federal — to provide for the long-term protection of the river's ORVs, based on an assessment by a National Park Service study team of state and local laws and regulations and how