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0031U2 USES OF INCREASED FLOWS ORIGINATING ON THE ARAPAHO NATIONAL FOREST (FINAL REPORT) I. INTRODUCTION A. Background Watershed management research in the Southwestern United States has shown that vegetation manipulation can be used to increase streamflow (for example, Leaf, 1975; Hibbert, 1979; Troendle, 1983). Public agencies manage large land areas under multiple use guidelines, where water runoff could be increased using'such vegetation management techniques. However, these practices involve costs in the form of increased management expense and possible adverse effects on existing land uses. All of the benefits and costs of streamflow augmentation must be assessed in order to determine whether implementation of such practices is warranted. In order to calculate the benefits of increased streamflo~, the effects of such increases on water uses in the basin must be predicted. The uses which may be affected include instream uses, such as fish habitat, water quality1recreation, and power production, and offstream uses, principally for agricultural, municipal, and industrial purposes. Also, the re-use of the additional streamflow must be considered, because offstream users commonly return some portion of their water to the stream. Numerous factors affect the allocation of potential streamflow increases, including institutions (laws, compacts, administrative rules and other social determinants of human behavior), water distribution networks (e.g., reservoirs, canals), economic demands for water in various uses, and hydrological regimes (with their stochastic nature). The interplay of 'these factors must be understood in order to predict how additional streamflow will be used.