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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />OiJ\Ju46 <br /> <br />CORRECTIONS <br /> <br />The Forum, having adopted the 1996 Review in June of 1996, now finds that with the <br />publication of a supplemental report in October of 1996, there is opportunity to identify any <br />corrections that the Forum has determined need to be made to the originally adopted report. <br /> <br />The first change to the report is not really a correction to the report but is more <br />aPfropriately identified as an update. On Page 1-5, Table I-I, and again on Page 6-4, Table <br />6- of the 1996 Review, it is identified that in FY 96 the Department of Agriculture (USDA) <br />had available for expenditure for the salinity control program $2,681,000. That is the amount <br />of money that was appropriated by the Congress under the line-item authorized by amendments <br />to the Salinity Control Act in 1984. In 1996, the Congress passed and the President sij?;ned the <br />Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act (1996 Farm Bill). There are proVisions in <br />the 1996 Farm Bill for the creation of a new frogram which has been titled the Environmental <br />Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) that wil allow for several conservation programs to be <br />operated under one authorization, including the Department of A~riculture's portion of the <br />salinity control program. There is to be appropriated each year, startmg in FY 97, $200 million <br />fOf the EQIP program. However, in an effort to get the new EQIP program started before FY <br />97, interim funding was made available to the administrators in the Department of Agriculture <br />and there was allocated additional funds to the salinity control program. There was spent during <br />the summer of 1996, subsequent to the publishing of the 1996 Review by the Forum, an <br />additional $3,569,000 for on-farm salinity control measures in the State of Colorado, $2,225,000 <br />in the State of Utah, and $686,000 in the State of Wyoming. The total EQIP appropriation and <br />expenditure for the salinity control program in FY 96 was $6,481,000. That combined with the <br />$2,681,000 appropriated under the original authorization provides for a total expenditure for the ~__J <br />USDA component of the program of $9,161,000 in FY 96, and that number would be a more ~,' <br />appropriate number to consider when reviewing Table I-Ion Page 1-5 and also when feviewing A,~ <br />Table 6-1 on Page 6-4. <br /> <br />For several years, the Congress has identified in their appropriation measures that <br />$800,000 is to be spent specifically on salinity control efforts. It has been known, however, that <br />through several programs, funding has allowed for land management practices that reduce salt <br />loading from the public lands managed by BLM. Quantification of this effort has been difficult <br />and long in coming. Subsequent to the preparation of the 1996 Review, BLM has estimated <br />that, in addition to the $800,000 spent, in 1995 $3,620,000 has been spent on salinity controlling <br />practices in six states by BLM, and that effort has controlled about 15,000 tons of salt from <br />nonpoint sources. Although these numbers are from early estimates and subject to change, it <br />is believed that they more correctly reflect the magnitude of BLM's current efforts in salinity <br />control than does the number in Table I-Ion Page 1-5 and Table 6-1 on Page 6-4 in the 1996 <br />Review. <br /> <br />In the form of an update, the reader is referred to page I-Sand Table I-I wherein it is <br />identified that $8,205,000 is available for Reclamation to spend in FY 96. Of that amount, <br />$500,000 was appropriated by the Congress to be spent under a newly authorized basin-wide <br />program with the passage of P.L. 104-20. That new program is briefly described on Page 3-4 <br />of the Review. Subsequent to the June adoption of the 1996 Review, Reclamation awarded to <br />the Hammond Conservancy District a contract for the full $500,000 to line canals and reduce <br />salt load to the river at a very cost effective rate, estimated to be about $15 annually per ton of <br />salt. <br /> <br />The following typographical or grammatical errors have been noted in the 1996 Review. <br />Water Ouality Standards For Salinity. Colorado River System. June 1996. They are as follows: <br /> <br />Page 2-3: On Figure 2-1, in the upper left-hand comer, monitoring stations are identified <br />and the fifth monitoring station listed should be changed from "Whiter" to "White". <br /> <br />18 <br />