FLOOD00235

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: All
• Title: Stream, Riparian, and Wetland Ecology - Class material, Volume 1 of 2
• Date: 9/1/1987
• Prepared For: Students
• Prepared By: Professor Windell
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

115

TAIL! 2.-PIDIUL DESICNATION or ITA,1'1.I.fttrrF.~:nD lIVElli

ENACTMENT OF
PROPOSED RIVERS
INTO A STAT!
SYSTEM
REQUEST FOR
NATIONAL
DESIGNATION BY
CQVERNOR
CONS IDERATION
BY SECRETARY
OF INTF.R tOR
DESIGNATION

State Leaial.ture cr..t~~ . Stlte ri~.r
pre.erv.tion ."t"I. Once Iceo_pli,hld,
IIBi, Lit ion ItUlt b. ploud duianlt in, the
propoud dver [or inelUlion. The State
leaiallt iye prtK... i. oi.i 1.1' to thlt
u.ed by Congr....

Loed inttrUlI decide if national
d..illn.tion i. adv.f'ltlgeouI. LOCII 'upPQrt
and int'I'..1 null bot de1llOn.tuted to
I'Rillaton.

Include. con~id.r.tion of environmental
.tllement and h-teulinfltion thlt triteri8 for
in.:lu.ion in 11M fedtl'll! 'Ylllelll hive ~('1I
_L

If approved, the riveT becomes part of the
Mtional .yate. and 'Iin. federal
protection. fUfldinl .nd _n.~e-lIM!nt ..re-
State'. rupon.ibi lity.

4. To determine the extent to which the rivers in the National Wild
and Scenic Rivers System are representative of the diversity of
rivers of the nation and to permit identification of additional
rivers which would complete the system.

All rivers and river segments within thecoterminoun United States 25
miles or longer were inventoried and evaluated. Certain rivers and
segments less than 25 miles in length known to have exceptional potential
for recreation were also included.

Three general criteria were used in the inventory process:

the
the
and
the outstanding natural
river and its immediate

degree
degree

to which the river
to which the river

undeveloped,

is free-flowing,
and corridor are

and cultural
envi ronmE,nt.

characteristics of the

The inventory grouped rivers by physi.ographic divisi.ons and
subdivisions based on "Physical Divisions of the United States" prepared by
Nevin M. Fenneman in cooperation with the Phy!,iographic Committee of the
Geological Survey (Figure 1). This approach allows comp~Lrison of the
rivers in the context of each subdivision and permits idE!Dtification and
selection of the most significant and representative rivE,rs in each. From
this sorting a balanced selection of the outstanding rivE,rs of the n,ation
was derived.