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, ,. 'lu'l (~ , .....- >.' f -. ~ _ . - ! . STATE OF COLORADO ~ ~ .' ~NG'OlIl8S. .. , ": . COLORADO NATURAL AREAS PROGRAM Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman Street, Room 718 Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone (303) 839,3311 March 8, 1982 Stephen Ellis State Clearinghouse Di v is i on of Loca 1 Government 1313 Sherman Street, Room 523 Denver, CO 80203 o ~@~~WZ~ n MAR 1 21982 U DIVISION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT Dear Steve: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Draft Supplement to the FEIS for the San Luis Valley Project. We wish to make the following comments to the V,S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Ri,hard D. lamm Governor D. Monte Pascoe Ex~cutjve Director Carol I. Pustmueller. ph.D. Program Director Russell Lakes, and how they would be affected by actions proposed in the Draft Supplemant, are the project's issues of most concern to the Colorado Natural Areas Program, Department of Natural Resources, Russell Lakes is a designated National Natural Landmark. It was designated in May, 1975 by the National Natural landmark Program, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. This site is recognized as a rare example of the few remaining large, high altitude, alkaline marshes in the Southern Rocky Mountain Physiographic Region. It contains possibly the most extensive bulrush (?cirpus acutus) marsh area in Colorado, and contains a variety and number of species of flora and avian fauna not duplicated elsewhere in the southern Rocky Mountains, The Whooping Crane and the Greater Sandhill Crane, both state endangered species, frequently occur here, The Colorado Natural Areas Council, appointed by the Governor, eval- uated this site in 1979 for possible inclusion onto the Program's registry of natural areas. The Council rejected the site because the ecosystem, although a rare and representative example of what many parts of the San Luis Valley used to be like naturally, is not a natural ecosystem. It is maintained by man-made earthen dams. It should be understood, however, that Russell Lakes is still a National Landmark because of the rare, representative and diverse nature of this ecosystem, We encourage you to consider this fact in the development of the management plans for the Russell Lakes Wildlife Management Area and in the decision about whether the Colorado Division of Wildlife or the V,S, Fish and Wildlife Service will be responsible for implementing the approved management plan.