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cost of somewhat in excess of a million dollars. The power companies have agreed and have offered to pay half of the construction costs ' and to agree that in no event would the reservoir be drawn down below that capacity presently planned by the Division of wildlife. Operational studies reveal that the maximum reservoir,drawdown woul~ I occur only about once in thirty years, and then only ~f the gener~t~ng capacity of the proposed powerplant is increased at some future t~me to 1,400,000 kilowatts. The proposed enlargement would increase the useful life of the reservoir to at least 100 years. It is the conclusion of the staff that the reservoir now proposed by the Division of wildlife would at the best be only a marginal opera- tion for any purpose. However, an enlargement of the proposed res- ervoir as described would greatly improve the fishery and recreation- al values, as. well as providing an emergency supply for an industry which would provide a much needed economic stimulus to Moffat County. I might add here that a study was made by Stearns-Roger, Consulting Engineers, for the power interests. Here is a chart based on that study, which indicates the possible fluctuation in the reservoir stor- age. This is the period of '62 to '65, a period in which there was a relatively short water supply. This is a month-by-month study showing the fluctuation. In these rather critical years, this line indicates the high water line of the small reservoir now proposed by the Division of Wildlife. The power companies actually propose two possibilities. One, an enlargement up to this elevation and the other one, an enlargement up to this elevation. I have spoken in our report of the maximum size, which is up to this point. Taking the maximum size set forth in our report, you can see the drawdown in '62 which was a short water year and would have come in the month of October to a fairly low elevation, still approximately 20 feet above the high water line now proposed by the Game and Fish Department. The draw- down starts to gain in the winter and spring months and reaches back up to a maximum height and is drawn down again the following winter. The critical drawdown occurs during the winter months when there is the least recreational use. This maximum drawdown down to this point at the lowest possible elevation would occur only in about thirty years. Most of the time the reservoir would remain at the maximum elevation. The staff of the board recommends that we urge the Division of Wildlife to accept the offer of the power companies for an enlargement of the proposed Elkhead dam. I -31-