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<br />45 <br /> <br />1 authorized construction on the project through Public Law <br />2 88-568, approved by the President on September 2, 1964. <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />The Fruitland Mesa Water Conservancy District was <br /> <br />4 organized under the laws of the state of Colorado in 1960 as <br /> <br /> <br />5 the sponsoring, contractual and operating entity for the <br /> <br /> <br />6 project. FOllowing authorization of the project, a repayment <br /> <br /> <br />7 contract was executed between the United States and the <br /> <br />8 District in 1969. Project construction funds have been appro,ed <br /> <br /> <br />9 by the Congress, approved by the President, and are now <br /> <br /> <br />10 available to initiate project construction. A small feature <br /> <br /> <br />11 of the project, the Gould Siphon, was completed in 1973. <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />The project involves construction of tile 48,235 acre <br /> <br />13 foot Milly K. Goodwin Lake on Soap Creek in Gunnison County <br />14 and a. delivery system which would provide full or supplementaJ <br />15 irrigation service to 18,250 acres of land in Montrose and <br />16 Delta Counties. . The plan of development set forth in the <br />17 Draft Environmental Statement is essentially the s~~e plan <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />1.8 <br />presented to the Congress in 1963, except for approximately <br /> <br />19 <br />5,200 acres .of irrigable land, along with ot.her project lands, <br />20 <br />have been oonverted from planned irrigation to a proposed <br /> <br />. 21 <br /> <br />big game management area. <br /> <br />This proposed conversion would <br /> <br />22 <br />reduce the total project irrigated acreage by about twenty- <br /> <br />23 <br /> <br />t~70 percent and the new land acreage about thirty-one percent <br /> <br />24 <br />a significant reduction in either case. <br /> <br /> <br />25 <br /> <br />From our review of the Draft Environmental Statement <br />