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<br />COLLEGIATE PEAKS WILDERNESS <br /> <br />The Collegiate Peaks Wilderness is located in the Gunnison, San Isabel, and <br />White River National Forests. This area was designated by Congress as a <br />wilderness by Public Law 96-560 (94 Stat. 3265) on December 22, 1980. The area <br />contains 167,994 acres, of which 1,340 acres are in non-Federal ownership. <br />There are no Federal or non-Federal lands above the wilderness, which <br />encompasses the headwaters. <br /> <br />It is estimated that the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness produces an average of <br />184,800 acre feet of water per year. If entirely utilized, absolute water <br />rights within the wilderness would divert and store approximately 1,100 acre <br />feet of the water yield. <br /> <br />Within the wilderness, there are 5 absolute rights and no decreed conditional <br />rights on Federal lands; and, no absolute rights or decreed conditional rights <br />on non-Federal lands. <br /> <br />The risk of future water developments affecting the water resources of the <br />Collegiate Peaks Wilderness is minimal. It is not economically feasible to <br />build a small project on one or more of the several elongated mining patents <br />because of their shape and the small watersheds of less than 3 square miles <br />above them. A larger project would require the use of wilderness lands, which <br />would require Presidential authorization. Nor is it feasible to attempt to <br />divert water across the wilderness because of the extremely rugged terrain <br />which would also require Presidential authorization to implement. Furthermore, <br />diversion and irrigation on site is not feasible because the average elevation <br />is about 11,000 feet making it impractical for irrigation and production of <br />domestic crops. All of the other non-Federal land is composed of small mining <br />patents which are not suitable for water developments because of their location <br />on the slopes of mountains. <br /> <br />The following table for the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness lists the various water <br />rights existing in and where applicable above this wilderness. The various <br />columns identify the names of the Forest, structure and source of water, <br />location, amount and type of right, dates of appropriation and adjudication, <br />date of designation of the wilderness and the relationship of water rights to <br />land ownership in and above wilderness. <br /> <br />8 <br />