BOARD00714

• Board Meeting Date: 7/9/1975
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

motorized means to clean and repair their ditches. However, it is
unlikely that river segments containing diversions would ever be desig-
nated as wild.

3. Existing water uses and practices in scenic and recreational rivers
should not be affected.

Now, let's discuss the Dolores River and its wild and scenic river study.
Four segments of the Dolores River were identified for study as follows:

Segment one is the Dolores River above Rico. Segment two consists
of the entire West Dolores River. Segment three consists of the
Dolores River from a short distance below the McPhee dam site, nearly
to Bedrock. Segment four consists of the segment from the confluence
of the San Miguel to the state line.

Segment one, the river corridor is fifteen miles long. Land ownership
is ninety-three percent public. Present land uses are grazing, hunting
and fiShing. The principal intrusion is State Highway 145, which
parallels the lower 8 1/2 miles of the river. This segment is free of
impoundments and no water rights are diverted from this segment.

Segment two is the West Dolores River from its source downstream to
its confluence with the main Dolores. It is thirty-five miles long.
The land in the corridor is sixty-six percent national forest and thirty-
four percent private. Principal land uses are grazing and recreation.
Recreational uses include hunting and fishing but do not include boating
or floating. . The river corridor is free from commercial development
but a Forest Service road parallels the lower twenty-seven miles of
river. This segment of river is free from major impountments. However,
a total of twelve water rights divert from the river in this segment.

Segment three is the Dolores River from the McPhee site to Bedrock. It
is one hundred and seven miles long. Most of the land in the corridor
is national forest or BLM lands. Concentrations of privately owned
land exist in the short segments eleven miles below the MCPhee damsite,
the Slick Rock area and through Little Gypsum Valley. The principal
land uses are uranium mining, grazing, prospecting and recreation.
Substantial river floating occurs on this segment of the river. Sig-
nificant intrusions include the Dove Creek pumping plant, a Union Carbide
concentration mill near Slick Rock and roads and highways in the con-
centrations of privately owned land. The river is free from impoundments,
but eight water rights divert from the river in this segment.

Segment four is the Dolores River from its confluence with the San Miguel I
River downstream to the Colorado-Utah state line. It is thirty-eight
miles long. Land in the corridor is approximately fifty percent natural
resources land and fifty percent privately owned. Extensive uranium
mining occurs in the upper segment while grazing occurs in the lower
segment. The river is floatable, but not often floated. The main
intrusion is State Highway 141. This segment is free of impoundments,
but contains nine water diversions.

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