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rt.';~ _. ,;..>.1... iU -.+, :j '1 d i ."J ~ ,- f' ."0'. {}01191 Two Field Solicitor's Opinions concluded that the intent of Section 104 of the authorizing act provided for proportional delivery of project water, Therefore, the revised mitigation plan was developed on the assumption that project water would be shared (Rio Grande and fish and wildlife mitigation) on a proportional basis. However. on December 16, 1981. the Associate Solicitor. Division of Energy and Resources, Department of the Interior, reversed the previous opinions by stating that 60.000 acre-feet of water must be delivered to the Rio Grande per year before any mitigation water can be delivered to Alamosa NWR and Blanca WHA, Given the restrictions imposed by the most recent Solicitor's Opinion, we have some serious reservations regarding the mitigation plan and its implementation. For example, assume that an average of only 50,000 acre-feet of water was salvaged annually by the entire project division rather than the planned objective of ' 100,600 acre-feet. Impacts to fish and wildlife habitat would be essentially the same under either scenario. However, with only 50,000 acre-feet of water being salvaged annually there would be no project water for mitigation purposes. Another example. assume that the project is terminated after Stage 3 for budge- tary or other reasons. Again, impacts would be severe but there would be no project water provided for mitigation, There are other examples, but these are sufficient to demonstrate some of our apprehensions regarding the implementation of the mitigation plan. In the absence of adequate mitigation. our Service is forced to oppose projects or in the case of the Closed Basin Division. withdraw our support for the project, At the present time. we are looking at alternative ways to assure concurrent and proportionate implementation of fish and wildlife mitigation. We strongly encourage your agency to do likewise, The Closed Basin Division is an authorized multiple-purpose water resource pro- ject located in Alamosa and Saguache counties in southcentral Colorado as shown on Plate 1. The primary purpose of the project is to deliver to the Rio Grande ground water now being lost to evaporation and transpiration in the Closed Basin. The water will assist the State of Colorado in meeting its commitments to the States of New Mexico and. Texas under the Rio Grande Compact of 1939 and will also assist the United States in meeting its commitments to the Republic of Mexico under the Rio Grande Convention of 1906. The authorizing legislation (Public Law, 92-514) as amended. provides for the delivery of water to Alamosa National Refuge, the establishment of the Mishak National Wildlife Refuge, the water level stabilization and recreational facility development at San Luis Lake and for the enhancement of fish and wildlife resources in the project area. However, as stated previously, Mishak Refuge proposal is no longer valid and other impacts to the fish and wildlife resource were not considered in previous reports. The plan of development consists of a series of 95 to 165 wells, a lateral col- lection system and a main conveyance channel, The conveyance channel will be about 42 miles long, vary from 4 to 22 feet in bottom width and 2,0 to 4,7 feet in depth, with a design capacity ranging from 20 to 160 ft/3s. The primary land use in the project area is grazing of domestic livestock. Cul- tivated crops are limited because of the high water table and the alkaline soil condition, The dominant shrubs are black greasewood and rubber rabbitbrush, Saltgrass is the principal grass species. The National Wetland Inventory iden- tified 43,122 acres of wetlands in the 138,500 (present authorization) acre