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<br />CHAPTER II <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />also have produced hydroelectric energy to the same area. Water would <br />have been stored in a reservoir high on the South Fork of the White River <br />and delivered to a tributary of the Colorado River by an 11.5-mile tunnel. <br /> <br />The Juniper Unit achieved separate project status as a result of the <br />CRSP Act. Further reconnaissance surveys were conducted and the Juniper <br />Project Reconnaissance Report was published in July 1963. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The reconnaissance plan for the Juniper Project included development <br />in both Colorado and Utah. It provided for full service irrigation of <br />68,000 acres in Utah, including Ute Indian lands, and 38,000 acres in <br />Colorado, 46 million kilowatts of hydroelectric power production, rec- <br />reational development, and fish and wildlife enhancement. Water would <br />be supplied primarily by diversions from the Yampa River. Small addi- <br />tional supplies also would be provided from return flows from project <br />lands and direct flow diversions from the White River. Regulation of <br />Yampa River flows would be provided at the 1,839,000-acre-foot Juniper <br />Reservoir near the community of !1aybell. Power water releases would pass <br />through a powerplant at the base of the dam, and irrigation releases would <br />be made to the Deadman Bench Canal which would begin at the dam and extend <br />southwest for 154 miles. Water for immediate irrigation needs would be <br />distributed from Deadman Bench Canal through laterals and direct turnouts <br />to project lands and through two branch canals--the Sunbeam and Pinyon <br />Canals. Water in Deadman Bench Canal in excess of immediate irrigation <br />needs would be stored in the 29,000-acre-foot Artesia Reservoir at an off- <br />stream site near the present town of Dinosaur, to be distributed as needed <br />by the Artesia Canal. In the lower part of the project area, the Wonsits <br />Canal would intercept and distribute return flow, and the Savannah Butte <br />Canal would distribute water from the White River. Basic recreational <br />facilities would be provided at Juniper and Artesia Reservoirs, and both <br />reservoirs would enhance fishery values. Minimum water releases would <br />be made continuously through Juniper Powerplant to preserve the stream <br />fishery along Yampa River. The Juniper Powerplant would be interconnected <br />with and become an integrated part of the CRSP power system. <br /> <br />In February 1954, the Bureau of Reclamation published a Status Report <br />on the Cliffs-Divide Project, an extensive water development plan covering <br />nearly all of the Colorado River mainstem drainage in Colorado. One unit <br />of this project, the Toponas Unit, proposed the transbasin diversion of <br />water from the headwaters area of the Yampa River to irrigate lands along <br />Egeria Creek, a Colorado River tributary. The Toponas Unit was the only <br />one in the Cliffs-Divide Project that involved part of the UCRS area. <br /> <br />The Lower Yampa Project named by the Colorado River Basin Act for <br />feasibility studies was a combination of the Juniper Project and the <br />Great Northern Unit of the White-Yampa Project. The same act combined <br />the Hayden Bench and Wessels Units of the Yampa-White Proj ect. with the <br />Toponas Unit of the Cliffs-Divide Project into the Upper Yampa Project <br />and authorized it for feasibility studies. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />-, <br />