Board Meeting 10/01/1987

• Board Meeting Date: 10/1/1987
• Description: CWCB Meeting
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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1. SUM~IARY OF ANALYSIS

The Fores t Service. pursuant to the Cou['t' s o,'(iers of jl;ovc,mbec 20. 1986 nnd
June 3. 1987. examined the 24 wilderness aeeas in 201uradu nallled in the Second
Amended Complaint, to identify any threats to wilderness water' ['esources and
evaluated th~ various alternatives avnilable. including clHimtJlg F(;uccnl
eesel'ved wa~er rights, to carey out the statutory responsi bLl ily to protect
wilderness resources. Our analysis did not indicate aay present or foreseeable
future threats to the wilderness resources which would diminish their wilder-
ness characteristic3.

The appendices to this report set forth the quantity and location of all
decreed absolute and conditional water rights and all non-Federal lands within
or above wilderness. Fourteen of the 24 wilderness areas do not have any
non-Federal lands on the watersheds above them: and. 9 of the wilderness areas
encompass the headwaters of their watersheds. Four of the wilderness areas do
not have any non-Federal lands within their boundaries: and, 3 of the wilder-
ness areas have less than 100 acres each of non-Federal land within them.

No application has been made to the president for development within wilder-
ness: and. the Forest Service has not received any applications for development
on National Forest System land above wilderness. Furthermore. we know of no
activity on non-Federal land that would diminish the wilderness characteristics
of wilderness water resources.

In addition. the Forest Service analysis of the existing absolute and decreed
conditional water rights located within and above the wilderness areas indi-
cates that all of the rights are senior to the various designation dates of
these wilderness areas with the exception of five absolute rights. Three of
these rights are based upon appropriations which were initiated prior to the
establishment of the related wildernesses; another of the rights is part of a
diversion which was initiated in 1918. These five rights that are junior to
the designation dates are, by having been adjudicated and entered in decrees.
senior in priority to any Federal reserved water rights that the United States
could acquire by filing claims for such rights at this time. As indicated by
the data in the appendices, the uses of water associated with these five rights
are so small that they do not adversely affect the wilderness characteristics.
A reserved water right based upon the designation of the wilde,ness areas in
Colorado would not provide any necessary protection for the wiLderness
['esources against the exercise of the~e senior water rights.

The Forest Service has several manage~ent mechanis~s to protect wilderness
'vater resourceD from the effects of future water development, depending upon
the location of the development in reLation to the wilderness and the threat
that it presents to wilderness vaiues. Generally. these consist of adminis-
trative controls over lands where water could be de.eloped or legal authorities
to acq'Jire alld assert rights to lands and water so as to protect wilderness
resources. SpeCifically, these mechai1isms are: 1) Deny land use authoriza-
tions or impose conditions for protection of wilceeness water resources: 2)
Recommend to the President the denial of authorization or imposition of condi-
tions for the protection of wilderness resources if a request for authorization