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<br />2001 ADl7soRrcmWCIL REPORT <br /> <br />The Council asks that Reclamation respond in writing to recommendations contained in this repon <br /><~ by May 1,2002, <br />.... <br />I\:,. <br />,,;;. <br /> <br />Bureau of Land J\lanagement (BLJf) <br /> <br />The Council has serious resen:ation about the BU..1's commionent to the Colorado River Basin <br />Salinity Control Program. For the last few years the Council was encouraged by the direction it <br />thought the BLM was taking with its program but based on the report the Council received at the <br />November Advisory Council meeting, the Council is no longer optimistic that the BLM understands <br />its role within the program The Council is not sure that the BLM understands that its participation <br />in the program is mandated by the Salinity Control Act. The Act has been amended twice by <br />Congress to state the intended role of the BLM. In light of this mandate, the Council recommends <br />that the BLM reevaluate its role with respect to the program and use the current required report to <br />Congress as a mechanism to define its future actions. The Council recommends that the BLM <br />coordinate the development of its report to Congress with the Salinity Control Forum and other <br />involved federal agencies. For this coordination to be effective. it needs to be on an ongoing basis <br />until the final document is prepared for transmittal to Congress. It has now been tv.'e\ve months <br />since Congress passed legislation requiring the report and it appears that efforts to prepare the report <br />to date have been mired in differences of opinion among BLM stafT. The BLM's decisions to date <br />to hold the writing oflhe report to a small inner circle of staff within the BLM rather than exposing <br />the effort to some "sunshine" where others experienced in salinity control could make helpful <br />comments has delayed the effort. The BLM must be most concerned with looking for creative and <br />cost-effective ways to control salt on federal lands. <br /> <br />In the past. the Council recommended that the BLM add a specific criterion for evaluating salinity <br />control to the guidelines for the BLM's land planning process This criterion could include methods <br />for identifying high priority watersheds and methodologies for predicting and calculating salt <br />retention, This effort was started more than a decade ago. Watersheds were identified and a <br />consensus was reached by a broad spectrum of state and federal panicipants that identified <br />watersheds suitable for focused salinity control cffons To date. the Council has not received a <br />comprehensive written report on this subject and now requests that one be prepared_ <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />COLORADO RlI'ER BASIS $.4.U\1TrCO.\7ROL ..UJr7S0RJ" COUSClL <br />