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<br />HOLY CROSS WILDERNESS <br /> <br />The Holy Cross Wilderness is located in the San Isabel and White River National <br />Forests. This area was designated by Congress as a wilderness by Public Law <br />96-560 (94 Stat. 3265) on December 22, 1980. There are no Federal or non- <br />Federal lands above the wilderness, which encompasses the headwaters. The area <br />contains 123,410 acres, of which 1,022 acres are in non-Federal ownership. <br /> <br />It is estimated that the Holy Cross Wilderness produces an average of 111,000 <br />acre feet of water per year. If entirely utilized, absolute water rights <br />within the wilderness would divert and store approximately 15,800 acre feet of <br />the water yield. <br /> <br />Within the wilderness, there are 7 absolute rights and 15 decreed conditional <br />rights on Federal lands; and, no absolute rights or decreed conditional rights <br />on non-Federal lands. <br /> <br />The Homestake Project is located in the Holy Cross Wilderness. The construc- <br />tion and operation of this project was expressly recognized and protected by <br />Congress in section 102(a) (5) of Public Law 96-560, 94 Stat. 3266, which <br />established the Holy Cross Wilderness. <br /> <br />The risk of future water developments affecting the water resources of the Holy <br />Cross Wilderness is minimal. It is not economically feasible to build a small <br />project on the elongated mining patents within the wilderness because of their <br />shapes, their location on the slopes of mountains and because of the watersheds <br />of less than 2 square miles above them. A larger project would require use of <br />wilderness lands. which would require Presidential authorization. Nor is it <br />feasible to attempt to divert water across the wilderness due to the extremely <br />rugged terrain Furthermore, diversion and irrigation on site is not feasible <br />because the average elevation is in excess of 10,000 feet, making it unsuitable <br />for irrigation and production of domestic crops. <br /> <br />The following table for the Holy Cross 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 />21 <br />