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003231 Minutes of the Augmentation Task Committee, P8IAC Albuquerque, New Mexico September 9, 1981 The Augmentation Task Committee met under the Chairmanship of Vernon Valantine. Present were Pete Stender, Larry Schmidt, from the Intermountain Region and Southwest Region, respectively of the U.S. Forest Service; Robert McCullough, USBR; Olin Foehner, USBR; Robert Walstrom, Nevada; Barry Saunders, Utah; and Carl Slingerland, New Mexico. The first item discussed by the Task Committee was the regional planning reports of the U.S. Forest Service. Stender and Schmidt asked as to whom in PSIAC they should send copies of the regional planning reports. The Task Committee advised them that a copy should go to each state representative on PSIAC, two copies to the USBR, and a copy to the state office of the Soil Conservation Service located within each region. (At the later meeting of the Executive Subcommittee, the U.S. Corps of . Engineers indicated that a co~y should also be sent to the South Pacific Division Office of the Corps.) Stender distributed a list of the staff officers in the different national forest in the Intermountain Region. He said that if questions relating to policies arise, that the Forest Supervisor should be contacted. If questions do not concern policies, but instead, concern the program itself or technical matters, then the other persons listed on the tabulation would be the appropriate people to contact. I made reference to the Intermountain Region's report "A Draft Regional Plan for the Intermountain Region", and "Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Intermountain Region Plan", dated July 1981. I stated that comments thereon are due by September 24, 1981, and recommended that a letter be sent from PSIAC to the Intermountain Region commenting on the reports. I identified the principal concern that the Colorado River Board found with the report; namely, that the issue of water yield improvement was not listed as one of the seven principal issues facing the forest, and that it should be accordingly upgraded. Stender stated that he would have no problem with the Intermountain Region receiving such a letter. He stated that only two letters of comments have been yet received from entities concerned with water resources; one from the Colorado River Board and another from Phil Briggs of Arizona. He said that the regional office has considered this issue for the last two weeks, and has generally concluded not to make any changes because of the following considerations: 1. Water yield improvement does not appear to be an issue in areas outside of the Colorado River Basin, which constitutes a signif- icant portion of the Intermountain Region. B-12