BOARD01955

• Board Meeting Date: 3/21/1973
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

ranch with us.

I have with me Mr. Russell who is a member on the Savery side. You
understand, we are two conservancy districts straddling the state
line and I think therefore we might have a better chance with two I
states involved. And I have Mr. Wren from Savery, a long-time rancher,
and he is the president of the Savery board. We don't have a lawyer.
We have started our repayment contract, but I am having trouble
getting a lawyer to take us on. They are all so busy in our area that
we are having trouble. I had a couple of attorneys say they wouid
take it and then they decided it was too much work for them right
then and they couldn't take it.

This whole project would benefit Rawlins, Wyoming, Craig, Colorado,
Steamboat. and I think when you talk about a Colorado project, we
all have so much in common. You can talk about recreation, we have
the same thing. We all have arid areas where we need the water. It
is so common that I could repeat everyone of these men's statements
here today, but I am not that elaborate.

Our project was authorized in 1964. We have had money appropriated
for it, which is frozen now. We have had Wyoming congressmen, we have
had Colorado congressmen and senators fighting for this and have this
money appropriated but not released. I can't understand how it can
be done. And how we can jump priorities from one to the other. But
I realize that your job is to do this and I can appreciate that we
are going to have to do something like this in order to get anywhere
at all with any of them. Of course, I am going to stand up here and
tell you that I think we should be first, and probably we should.
We were approved in 1964 and our final plan is done, the impact study
has been done, and the only thing they can say is about damage of
big game. We feed those animals in the winter anyhow. We have them
in our haystacks right now. We have deer and elk. So we are feeding
them. They move back up in the hills in the summertime, but we are
feeding them in the wintertime. And even if this project comes about,
and these new lands come in, they are going to be there. We have
had elk move from the high country to ten miles below Baggs, which is
pretty near the bottom of this project. The first time was yesterday I
that they have ever moved that far below Baggs. The weather has
caused it and it has pushed them down and we have to contend with
them. Now they say that they won't cross the canals. Well, I have
seen a lot of deer swim the river there at home in high water. I
don't know how a little canal would stop them.

So that is about the size of my statement. I would like to answer any

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