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. . 1 Five alternative designation combinations were studied extensively. In 1983, the Forest Service recommended that sixty-two miles of the Poudre be designated as either wild or recreational (thirty miles of wild river, thirty-two miles of recreational river). The proposed Idylwilde, Rockwell, and Grey Mountain Reservoir sites would have been excluded from designation under the Forest Service recommendation. For varying reasons, environmental groups and water user groups opposed the Forest Service recommendation. Following announcement of the Forest Service's preferred alternative, Representative Brown introduced a Poudre Wild and Scenic River Bill in early 1984. Because of disagreement between environmental and water user groups regarding its language, that Bill did not pass. Early in 1985, Representative Brown introduced a Bill into Congress which would study a portion of the Poudre River within the City of Fort Collins as a potential national recreation area. Representative Brown withheld introducing a Poudre Wild and Scenic River Bill .unti1 language acceptable to both environmentalists and water users could be agreed to. This has been achieved. Representative Brown's Bill for a national recreation area study for the Poudre River, as it runs through Fort Collins to the Larimer County line, has been made a part of the Poudre Wild and Scenic Rivers Bil" H.R. 3547. Historic Poudre River Water Development The Cache la Poudre River system is the most carefully managed and controlled river system in the State of Colorado. Since the settlement of the arid plains along the lower banks of the river in the nineteenth century, twenty-two major diversion systems have been established in the Poudre Basin. Located in the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River are eight storage reservoirs from which water, stored during the spring runoff, is released on demand of downstream users at varying times of the year. Such releases create an artificial "free-flowing" stream during late summer periods wh~n natural river flows are negligible. The Poudre is also a transportation vehicle for nine transbasin diversion systems which supplement native river water. The water is used for irrigation, municipal, and industrial purposes in the rapidly growing areas below the canyon mouth along Northeastern Colorado's Front Range. An average of 37,000 acre-feet of water is imported into the headwaters of the Poudre annually. An additional 89,300 acre-feet of water is delivered each year into the Poudre River through the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. (See Appendix C). -2-