WSPC03188 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

002032 II. RECOMMENDED ACTION A. FEIS Recommendations The FEIS described Alternative A as the environmental quality (EQ) plan, which most contributes to achieving environmental quality objectives. Absent unresolved conflicts concerning the alternative uses of the Poudre's water resource, the conclusion of the study would have been to recommend either Alternative A or Alternative E (the preferred alternative of the DEIS/SR) to the President and Congress. From a purely environmental standpoint, these two alternatives are preferred. The State of Colorado recommends adoption of Alternative A, which recommends designation of the entire Cache la Poudre within the study area. (See Section II.D. for a complete description of the State's recommendation.) The development of Alternative E reflected a concern over the impacts of designation on private property ownership and rights. The DEIS deleted Segment 1 from its recommendation because of the amount of private owner- ship in the study corridor. In the FEIS, the effects of designation on privately-owned lands are minimal because most of the private lands are within Segments 1 and 4, which were both recommended for "no decision." Public concern over impacts on private lands have been identified through- out the consultation process and are discussed in Chapters V and VIII. The FEIS, unable to use current water resource study results now available, recommended designation of the Poudre's upper reaches only. Through that recommendation, the opportunity to develop a viable water resource project on the lower portion of the River and private property considerations are protected. The availability of data from the Tudor study addresses the uncertainty about water resource development; private property considera- tions of designation are not resolved as readily. B. Addendum Alternatives I Modification of alternatives presented in the FEIS resulted in two addi- . : tional alternatives which alleviate problems and take advantage of oppor- tunities in ways that contribute to the National Economic Development (NED) and Environmental Quality (EQ) objectives. One, Alternative G (described below), maximizes contributions to the NED objective. The other, Alter- native F (described below), becomes the new preferred alternative as recommended by USDA, resulting from the Cache la Poudre Wild and Scenic River Study, and consideration of the results of the Tudor/State study. ..ceo" Alternative F (Modified from FEIS Alternative E) Partial designation of River, classifying most segments to highest level of eligibility and not classifying all of one segment and the majority of another (Map 14). 7