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"ocal News ,. . ~n:S~J~~;; News I ~,:. I- - ~ ~~.~~~'.!'*.!~, page 1 ot . Week of September 12, 2003 HCCA sues for more Black Canyon flows Environmentalists challenge U. S. by Pete Sharp Five environmental groups, including High Country Citizens' Alliance (HCCA), have filed suit in federal district court to challenge water flows allocated by the federal government for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The lawsuit, filed Friday, seeks that the federal government be required to allocate larger flows that would help restore the canyon to its natural state, its state prior to the completion of the upstream Blue Mesa Reservoir. The five groups filing the complaint, in addition to HCCA, include The Wilderness Society. the Western Colorado Congress, the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council and Trout Unlimited. The named defendants are Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the Interior Department, National Park Service director Fran Mainella and the National Park Service. None ofthe defendants responded to attempts to contact them for a comment. The Black Canyon, a steadily deepening abyss beginning 30 miles west of the City of Gunnison, was named the country's 55th national park in 1999. It was first proclaimed a national monument in 1933 and, with the new status, was granted an unquantified amount of water "to conserve and maintain in an unimpaired condition the scenic, aesthetic, natural" condition of the national monument. When deemed a monument, the Black Canyon was at the whim of powerful spring runoff conditions, which served to keep the Black Canyon free of plant growth. However, when the Blue Mesa Dam was completed in 1965, forming the Blue Mesa Reservoir, natural peak and low flows were evened out, making it difficult to maintain the natural state ofthe Black Canyon.re In 2001, the Park Service applied for a year-round federal reserve water right base flow of 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) with peak flows at certain times ofthe year. Those peak flows were coincidentally requested for the same time local irrigators need vast amounts of water-May, June and July-attracting the attention and concern of many local irrigators and ranchers. Currently, there is a 300 cfs base flow right in the Black Canyon; however, it is junior to most other water rights in the basin. In other words, the Black Canyon currently gets its base flow only if many other users senior to it get their water first. The current agreement reached by the United States and the State of Colorado provides the same 300 cfs base flow in the Black Canyon with a much more senior 1933 federal reserve water right that practically guarantees the flow. However, in order to achieve any peak flows for the Black Canyon, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) must file for instream flow rights with the state. That process is currently under way. Those peak flow rights, if granted, will be far junior to the majority of the upper basin's8,e~(J\~t;5r rights lUp:/ /www.crestedbuttenews.comlnews4.html 9/121200: