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. O:f"I ~ H 0." ~. a !Jt..::L..;.. Management Prescription #2 (Identifying Land Use Priorities): The proposed action would identify the majority of the SRMA as a recreation priority. The proposed action would additionally establish or retain a water, soil, wildlife, protected, or no priority for some lands within the SRMA. These proposed changes would have minimal affect on leasable or locatable minerals. All the proposed priorities still allow development of mineral resources, with the exception of salable minerals. With salable minerals the recreation, soils, and protected priority areas prohibit any new mineral material sales. The expansion of these priorities would increase the amount ofland closed to mineral material sales. This would not have an impact on the regional availability of sand and gravel or other salable minerals. Management Prescription #3 (NSO for Oil and Gas Leasing): This proposed management prescription would have no affect on mineral resources with the exception of oil and gas leasing or development. Although the area would remain open to oil and gas leasing, any potential for lease income would be reduced below the already low value that currently exists. The added costs of directional drilling would reduce whatever minor potential currently exists for such activity. The real cost to the American public is likely to be minimal, as no drilling has ever occurred in the SRMA area, and no leasing of oil and gas has occurred in the past 6 years. Management Prescription #4 (LandlMineral Withdrawal): This proposed management prescription would have minimal impact on locatable minerals. The area would be closed to mining claims under the 1872 Mining Law. Any mining claim work that would have occurred, and any potential mineral discoveries would be foregone, but none are likely or anticipated. Although there has been some mining work in the past, no valuable minerals have ever been discovered or produced from the area. Where mineralization was found it was abandoned after just a few years of exploration or prospecting. Gold and copper values are so low that no mining claim work has occurred in the area in over 35 years for gold, and for over 50 years for copper, even at or adjacent to the previous mining claim areas. HYDROLOGY AND WATER RIGHTS Affected Environment: The RMP contains additional water resource information that may not be covered in the Wetlands and Water Quality sections of this document. The BLM holds several very small water rights on the Colorado River. Although these water rights have a 1880 priority date and include recreation uses, their quantity limits their usefulness to the BLM's recreation management. The BLM also holds very small water rights on numerous tributaries within the SRMA, for various uses, with priority dates of 1880-1881. During past land acquisitions, the BLM did acquire some junior water rights for larger amounts. These rights were historically inigation rights, but their consumptive use could be transferred to instream flows, used for augmentation water to offset. nonpriority diversions, or used in other ways to benefit the BLM management. Changes in use would be according to State laws and could not impact other users. The vast majority of the water rights in the basin are used to meet or offset the front range's water demand. Future diversions are expected to greatly increase as growing populations increase the need for water on the east slope. The Northwest Colorado Council of Governments is currently trying to identify how this impacts the Colorado River. Pan of their effort is to try to lessen the large impacts to the recreation industry as rafting flows are greatly reduced. 25