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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />We also have a field office in southwestern Colorado. Our third section <br />is the environmental and water quality section. The chief of that <br />section-is Mr. Duane Helton who is here today. That section is perhaps <br />a little different than what you have. Our board is charged with <br />making appropriations of water for the protection of the natural environ- <br />ment. We had some discussion about that yesterday. The legislature <br />charged us with the responsibility for preserving the environmental <br />qualities of our streams. This is a very controversial field. <br /> <br />We also have the state responsibility for the coordination with federal <br />agencies on wild river designations, and to a limited extent concerning <br />wilderness areas. This one section handles all the environmental matters <br />as well as water quality. <br /> <br />Our deputy director, Mr. Laren Morril is also here today. The remaining <br />staff member present today is Mr. Walter Posey of our Cortez office. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: Thank you, Larry. Mr. Olsen, we will turn it over to <br />you now. <br /> <br />Mr. Olsen: Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for we, as a group <br />representing the state of Utah, to meet with you today for what we <br />believe is a very important meeting. <br /> <br />I would like to introduce to you the members of our board which we feel <br />is a rather unique group. I have been selected as chairman of the board <br />and represent the Bear River end of our state. It is a unique river <br />that crosses state lines five times. It heads in Utah, flows into <br />Wyoming and Utah, travels five hundred miles and then ends up ninety <br />miles from its beginning in the Great Salt Lake. It is.a unique stream <br />and a very important part of our water supply to the state. <br /> <br />Our vice-chairman, Wendell Anderson -- will you s~and, Wendell from <br />Grantsville, Utah, just west of Salt Lake City, representing that area <br />of our state on the Great Salt Lake; Edward Southwick, our second vice- <br />chairman, from Ogden, Utah, representing the Weber River; Phil Knight, <br />Provo, representing the Provo River and that area of our state; David <br />Sam, in the Uinta Basin, Duchesne, representing the Green River; Wayne <br />Wilson, in the southernmost part of the state, representing the lower <br />Colorado; and Quinn Shepard, from Delta, Utah, representing the Sevier <br />River, the center part of our state. <br /> <br />We have the eight river districts, each represented by one individual, <br />four democrats and four republicans, so this is a very non-partisan <br />group. I should say, it depends on the day, and what side of the bed <br />we got up in the morning, but we get along well as an equally divided <br />group. I think it works out very well. <br /> <br />Our responsibility is to develop the waters of the state of Utah, to <br />negotiate interstate streams, to supply and to build and provide a water <br />plan. We find in the changing society that we have, and conditions, <br />that this is a real charge to us. We have spent a considerable amount <br />of time working with the state water plan. I think we have made some <br /> <br />-43- <br />