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EST I, C'!? 1= 'i:'- t-< Q Q ~ ".__- ""lUlUB. www.denverpost.com/news ** THE DENVER POST I Section B Dl _ "",--4J1;~~~,,'(.!,!,$;'f!::~1I!.'i!Jp"L~7.Gtl-Jt~"1.'t~/fJ~i'~;~~fi$:'~'''J#!f!M,m_ii!f,fJlIlllbfF.!~~ Gunnison water dispute roils Feds' settlement plan imperils 'heart of park,' foes say By Theo Stein Denver Post Environment Writer The Bush administration is moving to settle a dispute with Colorado over the water that flows through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Natiooal Park, which state officials believe could help ease eastern Colo- rado's chronic water shortages. But environmentalists worry that in its zeal to appease Colo- rado water users, the U.S. De- partment of Interior will sacri- fice the spring floods that carved the spectacular 2,OOO~ foot-deep gorge on the Gunnison River and are critic.!.! to the park's trophy trout fishery. "If there's no river roaring through it, you've cut out the heart of the park," said Melinda Kassen, director of Trout Unlim- ited's Colorado Water Project. Justice Department attorneys working on the case say such concerns are unwarranted. But the Interior Department's top lawyer under the Clinton admin- istration disagrees. "The state has a lot at stake in this, obviously," said < John Leshy, now a professor at the Hastings College of Law in Cali- fornia. "But it's a national park. . . . There's a national interest in protecting those flows, and I fear they've just given that away," Gov. Bill Owens has aggres- sively pushed plans to divert wa- ter from the state's Western Slope during the current drought. While state officials have not specifically identified the Gunnison River as a target, the waterway is one of only two rivers that has excess water available for the Front Range. The dispute over the park's water dates to 1978, when a state judge ruled that the Na- tional Park Service had an im- plied right to maintain peak spriug flows when it designated the canyon a national monu- ment in 1933. That gave the ser- vice a more senior right than many other users of the Gun- nison's water in a legal system in which the earliest water claims take precedence. But the Park Service didn't start the legal process of detail- ing just how much water it need- ed uutil January 2001. The move exasperated Colo- rado officials, who object to the notion that the federal govern- ment should control water that flows through federal land. au Monday, the Justice De- partment presented a settle- ment framework to attorneys Please see WATER on 4B Gunnison controversy The federal government is trying to settle a dispute with the state over how much water should lIow through , -:l;~^ the Black Canyon ! COLORADO \?6ifj' of the Gunnison :~.. 70 I.'~nver National Park. ^" ~ ~" C "-'- ~' I oiorado I pnngs ) ~/ f ~ ,_ t ~, Q Black Canyo j"',,,,,, '5 of the Gunms ~. ~. National Par y: I ,? "00 . ,. ~r Deadnorse{ (347'i-4~- - Gulch '>>>'YV;j ,,,.o<~ ~ ~ 1 ';~ t~t'~"~J;v;, \ w-;,~ Y~<='! ~''''.) t"'1"'t:'('V k_v.;_~.,d East Portal Road l r. "^--';o"~' -,,",,~ -~ The Denver Post