BOARD00198

• Board Meeting Date: 1/15/1969
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

It is pointed out that the lands proposed to
be devoted to big-game habitat now constitute
an essential part of the grazing lands being
used by various livestock interests in the
area; It is further pointed out that the
lands in question are now being grazed by big-
game animals in complete harmony with domestic
livestock. A serious question therefore arises
as to whether or not the conversion of the Oak
Ridge area to big-game habitat would accom-
plish anything other than a serious loss of
economy to Rio Blanco County.

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Again, this is a matter on which the
staff of this Board professes to have no
expertise. We do believe, however, that the
irrigation of additional lands in the White
River Basin will have an incidental benefit
of increasing the forage available to big-
game animals. Aside from speculation about
the habits of big-game animals, two funda-
mental issues are raised by the project plan.
The first of these two issues is the effect
upon the benefit-cost ratio. Under the proj-
ect plan the $900,000 estimated as the cost
of acquiring the private lands in the Oak
Ridge area is considered as damages, and
therefore weighs against the cost side of the
project. Using an interest rate of 3-1/4
percent, as was used in the project report,
the sum of $900,000 as a mitigating expense
does not destroy the economic feasibility of
the project. However, applying the new dis-
count rate of 4-5/8 percent to the project,
its economic feasibility becomes critical and
the $900,000 additional cost serves to fur-
ther aggravate the critical balance between
benefits and costs; Secondly, and perhaps
an even more over-riding issue is the propo-
sition advocated that owners of private lands
should pay a penalty for placing their lands
under irrigation.

Let's assume for the purposes of illus-
tration that the 14,000 acres of private
lands on Oak Ridge and the 16,000 acres of

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