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. . 11. PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Many residents of the Dolores River area felt they had been poorly informed about meetings, workshops, and the Study Team's activities. ,t .p Though time was tight, the Study Team made extensive efforts to involve and inform all segments of the concerned public. A Steering Committee was formed and opened to all interested citizens. Two sets of public meetings were held, with over two-thirds of these sessions in western Colorado; these were publicized in local newspapers, and to some extent, on radio and TV; individual letters were also sent out to a large mailing list prior to the first public meeting. It is inevitable that some parties still missed out, but the Study Team's effort to gain public involvement has been genuine throughout its work. Nevertheless, the Team acknowledges that its accelerated study schedule did not allow time to notify every- one of the public meetings, and for this we apologize. The Dolores River area has been by far ,the most active in its study interest. Over 85 percent of the total meeting attendance was recorded at sessionsl""ld in this region. 12. A RIVER BASIN STUDY. A number of individuals and conservation organizations felt the Study Team was too limited in its approach to the Dolores. Some urged that the entire river be studied, including the segments not listed in the January 3, 1975 enabling law. Others felt the entire river basin should be studied. incuding all tributaries. A few suggested and named specific tributaries and side canyons. From a total environment point of view, a basin-wide study is a worthy concept. However, it is not what Congress empowered the Study Team to do under provisions of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Four segments of the Dolores River were listed in the January 3, 1975 legislation and those are what the Team considered. It is the responsibility of Congress to establish the parameters of each wild and scenic river stuu;. These parameters vary widely from river to river; thns, for example, the clause defining the study of Colorado's Piedra River specifically includes "the tribu- taries and headwaters on national forest lands." If the Dolores River clause had listed various tributaries and side canyons, the Study Team would have considered them; if it had specified a basin- wide study, then the Team would have undertaken same. , " Already, Congress is in the process of considering expansion of the Dolores River study in one direction. On July 10, 1975, U.S. Senator Jake Garn of Utah introduced the "Dolores River Act of 1975" calling for study of 22 additional miles of the Dolores in that state. ", , 8