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D. National Conservation Areas ("NCAs"): Because no"organic act" <br /> establishes parameters for the designation of NCAs (both wilderness and Wild and <br /> Scenic Rivers are defined by organic acts), NCA legislation can be crafted to meet the <br /> needs of specific areas. While NCA designations are flexible and usually refer to BLM <br /> lands, their enacting legislation often includes provisions such as the following: <br /> 1. The purpose of a NCA is to conserve and protect the range of natural <br /> and other values in the area, such as cultural, archaeological, natural, <br /> wilderness, scientific, geological, historical, biological, wildlife, <br /> educational, and scenic resources of the NCA; <br /> 2. Motorized-vehicle use may be limited to designated routes. (Most <br /> public lands, including the BLM's San Juan Resource Area and the <br /> San Juan National Forest, have already transitioned to a designated <br /> route system.); <br /> 3. The NCA is subject to valid existing rights(i.e., pre-existing mineral <br /> leases and valid mining claims), but the NCA legislation may withdraw <br /> all public land within an NCA from future mining, leasing, and disposal <br /> activities; <br /> 4. The managing agency must establish a management plan, including a <br /> comprehensive travel-management plan. <br /> Aside from these components, the legislation can be tailored to a specific <br /> community. Nothing prohibits or changes livestock grazing within an NCA; important <br /> historic structures can be protected; and valid existing rights are protected. Wilderness <br /> areas can be designated inside an NCA. <br /> NCA legislation has not generally induded a new federal reserved water right. If <br /> the managing agency should determine that water rights are needed for a NCA, they <br /> must be applied for according to the laws of the state of the NCA, and are subject to the <br /> same process as any other water right. <br /> NCAs can provide landscape protections that help maintain their existing <br /> character, while allowing flexibility in defining how they will be managed. NCAs are <br /> multiple-use and often include a variety of activities, ranging from livestock grazing and <br /> all forms of recreation to wilderness designation and conservation of historic and <br /> cultural sites. <br /> Note: Numerous other federal designations exist, such as National Recreation Areas, <br /> National Scenic Areas, and Special Management Areas, but they all share many <br /> attributes of NCAs, so the description above serves as their template. <br /> E. Federal Legislation (special): <br /> 1. Rio Grande Natural Area ("RGNA") in Colorado: S 26, 109th Congress. The <br /> purposes of the RGNA are to conserve, restore and protect the native, historic, cultural, <br /> -12- <br />