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000128 Investigations of environmental effects of precipitation increases in general, and particularly the San Juan Ecology Study [10], have resulted in the conclusion that no significant impacts will occur in the areas of the dynamics, processes, and interactions of plant and animal species; on the health, safety, and well-being of humans; on weather elements; and on hydrologic and physiographic phenomena of areas selected for the CREST demonstration activity. This conclusion applies to the geographic sections of the CRB that have been designated for wilderness or other special use as well as to the general land- scape, since responses to precipitation patterns and incremental variations in precipitation are not dependent upon the socio-cultural designation of the area in question. Precipitation management research and operational cloud seeding activities have been conducted for over a generation in alpine settings throughout the Western United States affecting storms crossing wilder- ness and other special areas with no indication of adverse response. Both Federal and State agencies and the private sector have been involved in the conduct, regulation, analysis, and oversight of these projects. More detailed discussion of the relationship of precipitation manage- ment research and wilderness characteristics is found in the publica- tion, "Position Paper on Weather Modificiation Over Wilderness Areas and Other Conservation Areas". The paper states: "It is apparent from the writ i ng of natural i sts and from the selection of areas for Wilderness designation that scenic grandeur, abundant wildlife, and dramatic weather are greatly appreciated as inspiring and valuable attri- butes of wilderness. They are not, however, definitive of it. "It is the position of the Bureau of Reclamation that the defining attribute of wilderness character is best summed up as the absence, to the highest practicable degree, of observable artificiality." [23, p. 16] The position paper states the following concerning the response of wilderness to precipitation patterns and precipitation management research activity. "In this welter of change, recognition of the changes attributable to fluctuations of weather and climate alone is not simple, even though the climatic fluctuations are often large. For example, the precipitation at Missoula, Montana, was 27 percent greater in the decade 1941-50 than in the preceding decade. At Helena, Montana, the precipi- tation for the decade 1917-26 was 25 percent less than that of the preceding decade. These changes are substan- tially larger than the anticipated effects of precipitation stimulation but are not uncommon. They are illustrative of the natural weather and climate fluctuations to which 31