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<br />OOiJ549 <br /> <br />Add 3 --- <br /> <br />"Congress intended no such right when it passed the original <br /> <br /> <br />Wilderness Act in 1964," Armstrong said, "and I hope the decision <br /> <br /> <br />will be overturned. But before another acre of federal wilderness <br /> <br /> <br />can be declared, we must devise a way to ensure Uncle Sam gets in <br /> <br /> <br />line with everyone else under Colorado's century-old system of <br /> <br /> <br />adjudicating water rights." <br /> <br /> <br />Rather than superimposing federal water rights on the state <br /> <br /> <br />water system, the Armstrong bill would establish a process for the <br /> <br /> <br />federal government to acquire water rights for wilderness purposes <br /> <br /> <br />through the state's existing in-stream flow law, just as the rights <br /> <br /> <br />to maintain flows in more than 7000 miles of Colorado streams were <br /> <br /> <br />acquired. The Secretary of Agriculture or Interior would make a <br /> <br /> <br />recommendation for the water requirements of a particular wilderness <br /> <br /> <br />area to the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which administers the <br /> <br /> <br />in-stream flow program. The claim would be adjudicated in state <br /> <br /> <br />water court as are all others. <br /> <br /> <br />The Armstrong water language is the result of more than five <br /> <br /> <br />years of dialogue and debate with leading water experts in Colorado <br /> <br /> <br />and throughout the West, and was written by the Colorado Water <br /> <br /> <br />congress Negotiating Group. <br /> <br /> <br />"Instead of endlessly wrangling at the theoretical level, <br /> <br /> <br />this bill solves the problem," Armstrong said. "A lot of people <br /> <br /> <br />thought a solution was impossible, but someone once said every great <br /> <br /> <br />idea is once seen as an impossible dream. Well, this is a great <br /> <br /> <br />idea." <br /> <br />"It's tough language, because it specifies there is no <br /> <br /> <br />automatic federal water right in wilderness areas, period," <br /> <br /> <br />Armstrong said. "But, at the same time, it provides a way for <br /> <br /> <br />-MORE- <br />