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<br />Dinosaur .al Monument: The Evolution of a Federal Reserveeer Right <br /> <br />Cooperative Instream Flow Service Group. 1980. Analysis of the <br />Ol:eycnne Watt] Supply Phase 11 Diversion Poten\iallmpacts. on the <br />Colorado Squawflsh Habitat in the Yampa River. Unpublished Final <br />Report. Western Energy and Land. Use Team. U.S. Fish & Wildlife <br />Service. Ft. CoDins, Colorado. SO pp. <br />Elliott, J. G., J. E. Kitcher. and P. G. Von Guerud, 1984. Sediment <br />Transport in the Lower Yarnpa River. Northwest Colorado. U.S. <br />GeolOgical Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 844141, <br />"~ . <br />O'Brien. J. S., 1984. 1983 Yalllpa River Cobble Reacb Morpbology <br />Investigation. Final Report to the Endangered Species Office, U.S. <br />Fish & Wddlife Service. Salt Lake Oty, Utah, 79 pp. <br />U.S. Congress, 1981. Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Com- <br />mittee on Appropriations. House of Representatives, N"mety-Sixth <br />Congress, Second Session: Department of the Interior and Related <br />Agencies Appropriations for 1981. p. 614. <br />U.S. Department of the Interior, 1979. Federal Watet Rights of the <br />National Park Sezvice, Fish and WIldlife Service, Bureau of Reclama- <br />tion and the BUreau of Land Management. Solicitor's Opinion <br />No. M-369\4. June 25, 1979. <br /> <br />";'. <br /> <br />2675 <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />sustain the physical, ecological and recreational resources with- <br />in Dinosaur National Monument, ran into a legal-scientific <br />situation for which it was not prepared. Standing on the prin- <br />ciple of "nalural nows" rather than negotiating an acceptable <br />hydrograph for the Yampa River, the NPS waited for nearly <br />four years of a court-imposed five-year deadline before start. <br />ing to quantify its conditional IeselVed watcr rights claim. <br />Intramural concerns over budgets, staffing and scientific <br />responsibilities led to a disassociation of the governmenl's re- <br />search effort. <br />Initially, the fIeld scientists did not appreciate their need <br />to respond to political and legal infonnation requirements <br />and what SOme viewed as a series of artificial deadlines; nor did <br />the political and legal decisionmakets seem to understand the <br />technical restrictions imposed by scientific methods and prin- <br />ciples. Quantification was hampered by unrealistic budgets <br />and expectations, changes in personnel, a convoluted chain of <br />command, and inconsistent direction from policy-makers. <br />Adequate field analyses in support of the Dinosaur quantifi- <br />cation probably could have been done within the timeframe <br />and budgets allocated had they been plOpelly designed and <br />coordinated from the start, or had there been explicit guide- <br />lines establishing respective responsibilities of the multiple <br />participating offices. <br />Now. over a year after the original deadline imposed by <br />the initial decree, the NPS has acceptable documentation to <br />quantify only that instream now minimally needed for spawn. <br />ing by the endangered Colorado squawfish in the Yampa <br />River. The federal government's case to validate its greater <br />claims for water quantities needed to maintain the habitat for <br />other life stages of the endangered fish species, the riparian <br />ecosystem and the scenery of the Monument is still very <br />much conjectural. <br />Regardless of the proximate outcome of the current evi. <br />dentiary hearings before the Colorado District Court, it is <br />likely that the Dinosaur water rights case will not achieve final <br />settlement this decade. While the Dinosaur case was the fIrst <br />of its kind for the NPS, it is apparent that challenges to federal <br />reselVed rights for instream nows will continue. To protect <br />their claims, federal land management agencies must be pre. <br />pared to integrate public policy and law with science in the <br />design and conduct of instream flow quantification studies. <br /> <br />t <br />~: <br />, <br />, <br /> <br />ACKNOWLEDGMENTS <br /> <br />The author would h1ce to thank the four anonymous reviewers <br />whose thoughtful &uggestions contnDuted significantly to this paper. <br /> <br />LITERATURE OTED <br /> <br />Adams. D. B.. D. P. Bauer, R.. H. Dale. and T. D. Steelt~. 1983. Reset- <br />voir-Development Impacts on Surface-Water Quantity and Quality <br />in the Yampa River Basin. Colorado and Wyoming. U.S. Geological <br />Sunrey Water Re'OIuces Investigations Report 81-30.98 pp. <br /> <br />149 <br /> <br />WATER RESOURCES BULLETIN <br />