Board Meeting 10/01/1987

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

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3. FORK3T SERVICE POLICY FOR PF.OTECTION OF ,..ILDFE!;ESS \,..'.TER RESOURCES

This report was undertaken in keeping with the objectives or the Forest Service
policy to protect the water resourceS or wilderness areas administered by the
Fores t Service so as to preserve and p:-otec t the wilderness characteristics {'ur'
..hich each wilderness was designated, C'_,nerally. t~lis means preservation of
the natural conditions without noticeable. permanent effect from the works of
man. Except for de minimis incident81 consumption by wildlife, livestock and
recreation users, and the maintenance of lakes or other standing bodies of
water, the wilderness water resource$ are characterized by nonconsumptive uses
of instream flows, e.g., primitive recreation and maintenance of scenic values
and the natural ecosystems.

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With regard to such flows or bodies of standing water. the quantity of water
necessary to preserve the wilderness charact~ristic is the flow regime or level
or water as of the date of establish~ent as wilderness. unless it is deter-
mined, based upon the specific facts and authorities related to a wilderness,
that a different quantity will achieve the purposes for which the wilderness
was established. The flow regimes and levels of water include the seasonal and
long-term variations created by both natural conditions and contemporary water
uses existing as of the date of wilderness designation.

However, the amounts of water necessary to suppcrt eta nUillerous and complex
dynamics or the wilderness ecosystem are not easily determined. particularly
with precision. The dynamics of the. system, the role of water in these dynam-
ics, and the related amounts of water vary considerably throughout the year and
from year to year. Quantification of this process throughout the entire reach
of all streams, lakes, springs, seeps, bogs, .lnd oth~r water 5curces in a .
wilderness would be extremely difficult, time consuming, and expensive. A team
of specialists in various disciplines, including hydrololgy, geomorphOlogy,
aquatic and riparian biology, limnology, bct~~y, and recreation, would need to
perform detailed and extensive field studies of the wild6I'ness water resources
and the related wilderness values in order to analyze the specific correlation
between the water and water dependent resources, and to approximate the quan-
tification of the relationships.

Accordingly, the Forest Service analyzes wilderpess water resources, and any
potential threats, as matters of concern arise to a specific wilderness water
resource. In this manner, the Forest Service can consider the facts related to
~he iJ~ntified water development and th8 related wi.lderness resources in order
to determine if the effects on the water rescurce will be noticeable or will
c""se noticeable diminishment of the wiL'ierness characteristics dependent upon
the water resources. Under this analysis, r61atively small diversions of water
from a large flow or body of standing water may be determined not to have an
"dver-se effect on wilderness characteristics, while the same or even smaller
diversions from a lesser flow or body of water could be considered detrimental
to HiL.lerness values.

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