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. . 3 and Air Management staff of the Forest Service National Headquarters reviewed this report with regard to Forest Service,policy implementation. The study of absolute decreed rights involved compiling a listing of all such rights located within or above a wilderness area. The information for this study, as well as the study of existing decreed conditional rights, was obtained from the latest available compilation of water rights provided by the State Engineer of Colorado. The focus of this effort was to establish the nature and extent of those rights which existed prior to the designation of the wilderness area. With such information, it is pOSSible to understand, in broad terms, the nature of the system at the time of the reservations. Any reserved rights designated by the establishment of the reservation would be junior in priority to those rights. In addition, the study also revealed any such rights post-dating the designation of the area. The second area of inquiry was to examine all existing decreed conditional rights. It was designed to locate and identify the nature of all such rights where the point of diversion is within the boundaries of a wilderness area and those which lie higher in the watershed above a wilderness area. Study of these rights was particularly important because, if fully developed, they could have effects upon the wilderness resources. If established before the designa- tion of the wilderness area, they would have priorities senior to any wilder- ness reserved rights but, nevertheless, those rights would not be absolutely free from administrative controls. The third area of inquiry was directed toward non-Federal lands either within wilderness areas or which lie above the wilderness in the watershed. These holdings were identified and examined for their potential for water develop- ments which might have an adverse effect upon the water resources of the wilderness area. The information regarding land ownership was compiled using Forest maps and verified by Regional Office Lands staff using land status maps and records. Suitability for water resource development was determined using Forest maps, U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps and. in some cases, aerial photographs and personal knowledge of National Forest and Ranger District personnel. The water rights and land holdings examined were plotted on maps of the wilderness areas. Once compiled, the information was studied wilderness by wilderness to ascertain the present situation concerning water resources in each area, what specifiC activities affecting the wilderness resources were foreseeable. and which actions could be taken to prevent or to mitigate the effects of those activities. This analysis is discussed below and in the appendices. The data compiled in the course of these studies are contained in the appendices to this report.