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<br />-.,..; <br />-~. <br /> <br />, <br />0'0Q348 <br /> <br />Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National <br />Park (formerly National Monument until 1999) was established by Presidential Proclamation No. <br />2033 (47 Stat 2558) to preserve the spectacular gorge and other objects of scenic, scientific, and <br />educational interests, The Park includes 14 miles of the Gunnison River downstream from the <br />Aspinall Unit. <br /> <br />Gunnison Gorge Special Recreation Area, The Bureau of Land Management manages the <br />area below the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park including an additional 16 miles of <br />the Gunnison River. ' <br /> <br />Gold Medal Trout Fisheries - The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) has classified the <br />Gunnison River from the upper end of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to the <br />confluence of the North Fork River as a Gold Medal Trout Fishery. <br /> <br />Crystal Trash Rack Cleaning Project - In 1999. Reclamation lowered the water surface at <br />Crystal Reservoir and cleaned its trash racks. Morrow Point Dam continued to peak releases <br />during the trash rack cleaning project. which resulted in exposed sediments being picked up by <br />Morrow Point releases and deposited downstream of Crystal Dam in the Gunnison River. <br />Flushing tlows were needed to remove sediments in downstream rainbow and brown [rout <br />spawnmg areas. <br /> <br />Public Scoping <br /> <br />Reclamation identified issues and concerns with participation from individuals. agencies. and <br />organizations that may be affected by the project. The :'vlorrow Point Trash Rack Cleaning <br />Project was first presented to the general public at the January 2001 Aspinall operations meeting. <br />On January 25.2001. a public scoping letter was mailed to interested parties and was published <br />in the Grand JlInctiun Dail\' Sentinel, Additional discussion was conducted at the January and <br />April 2002 Aspinall operations meeting. <br /> <br />Each issue and concern described below is discussed in Chapter 3. More information on public <br />scoping activities is included inChapter.t <br /> <br />Water Resources <br /> <br />The proposed action has the potential to temporarily affect water quality downstream of Morrow <br />Point Dam. Concerns focus around total suspended solids (TSS). total dissolved solids (TDS), <br />turbidity. and dissolved ollygen (DO) levels below Crystal Reservoir. <br /> <br />The Gunnison Tunnel. operated by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association <br />(UVWUA) below Crystal Reservoir. diverts water for irrigation and municipal use in the <br />Montrose and Delta areas. The proposed action has the potential to temporarily affect water <br />storage and supply if releases from Crystal Reservoir are affected. <br />Trout Fisheries <br /> <br />4 <br />