Wild and Scenic River Suitability Evaluation

• Description: Documents related to the Lower Colorado River Wild and Scenic Staekholder Collaborative
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 6/30/2010
• Author: Lower Colorado River Wild and Scenic Staekholder Collaborative
• Title: Wild and Scenic River Suitability Evaluation
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Meeting

LOWER COLORADO RIVER WILD AND SCENIC
STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATIVE
June 30, 2010
Congressman John Salazar
1531 Longworth House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Wild and Scenic River Suitability Evaluation
Colorado River Segment 3
Dear Congressman Salazar,
The Lower Colorado River Wild and Scenic Stakeholder collaborative is a dedicated group of
individuals and organizations working together to identify management options for several
stream segments that the Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction Field Office(BLM)
found to be eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (NWSRS)
during its recent inventory and analysis.
The group seeks to outline management options to recommend to the BLM as a means of
maintaining not only the outstandingly remarkable values(ORVs)that the agency has identified
but also the stakeholder uses and values that currently exist in and along these stream segments.
Ranchers, farmers, environmental advocates, water providers, representatives of local and state
government, and other stakeholders have collaborated to find management approaches that meet
both the needs of BLM and the needs of the broader stakeholder community.
One key eligible stream segment carefully reviewed by this stakeholders group is Colorado River
Segment 3, extending from Loma to the Utah state line, essentially tracing McInnis Canyons
National Conservation Area and the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness.
The stakeholders have submitted to the BLM the attached recommendations for the protective
management of this segment under its pending resource management plan.
In addition to, and complementing,those administrative recommendations, the stakeholders
respectfully request that you undertake legislation to adjust the boundaries of the NCA and
wilderness along this river segment.
Specifically, we recommend:
a. Adjusting the national conservation area boundary to the north and south edges of the
water of the Colorado River(changing with the river's volume and level such that the
NCA never includes the river itself);