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. 2401. INTRODUCTION The accompanying reports present an appraisal in reconnaissance scope of the Basalt and Bluestone projects in the Colorado River Basin of Colorado, commonly referred to as Colorado's western slope. These two projects would utilize water of the Ruedi Reservoir which has been authorized to be constructed on the Fryingpan River, a tributary of the Roaring Fork River which in turn enters the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs, Colo. The Ruedi Dam will be an earthfill structure rising 270 feet above streambed. It will create a reservoir of about 100,aOO-acre- foot capacity, covering an area of' 1,000 acres. The Ruedi Reservoir is a f'eature of' the Fryingpan-Arkansas project, authorized by the Act of' July 16, 1962 (Public Law 87-590). The primary purpose of' that project is to divert water eastward through the Continen- tal Divide f'rom the Colorado River Basin f'or multiple-purpose use in the Arkansas RiVer Basin in COlorado. The Rued! Reservoir is included in the project to provide replacement storage for existing water uses on the western slope and to provide additional storage to serve future water resource developments in that area. . The authorizing act for the Fryingpan-Arkansas project also provides that the Secretary of the Interior shall investigate and prepare a report on the feasibility of a replacement reservoir with a capacity of approxi- mately 5,000 acre-feet at or near the Ashcroft site on Castle Creek, a tributary of the Roaring Fork River above its confluence with Fryingpan River, but construction of the reservoir shall not be commenced unless the report, which shall be submitted to the President and the Congress, demonstrates the feasibility of the reservoir and is approved by the Congress. The Secretary of the Interior is directed by the same act to expedite completion of his planning report on the Basalt project as a potential participating project under the Colorado River Storage project. A similar directive with respect to the Bluestone project was included in the Colorado River Storage ~roject Act of April 11,'1956. . Under the terms of the authorizing legislation the Fryingpan-Arkansas project will be operated in a manner which has been agreed upon by the State of Colorado and by both eastern and western slope representatives as evi- denced by the detailed "operating principles" ,,,hich are made a part of the legislation by reference. These "operating principles" a copy of which is bound near the back of this volume, can be changed only by unanimous con- sent of the signatory parties or by an amendment to the authorizing act for the Fryingpan-Arkansas project. The principles require that the Ruedi Dam and Reservoir be completed and in operation before any water is diverted to the Arkansas Basin. The tentative construction program provided a 6- year period for construction of the dam and reservoir. The first year will be devoted mainly to preconstruction activities, the next four years to active construction, and the sixth year to minor completion work.