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<br />JUL-II-87 13,36 FROM,M.B.S.S. <br /> <br />1D,870 247 8827 <br /> <br />PAGE 23/2~ <br /> <br />, ir: <br />Ln <br />N. <br /> <br />c <br /> <br />Ute Legacy Land & Water Fund <br />An alternative to the Animas La Plata Project <br /> <br />This alternative is intended to satisfy the Ute Tribes' land and water right interests at reasonable <br />cost to the ta.'<!'ayers and the environment. This alternative was developed by the Southern Ute <br />GrassrootS Organization (SUGO) in consultation with others. No ALP alternative should be <br />considered acceptable until it has been voted on and approved by the general membership of the <br />Southern Ute Tribe. (The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's role in the decision process should be <br />derennined by them.) <br /> <br />PROPOSAL <br /> <br />Redirect moneys from the --'>l.P to establish a Ute Le-:<acv Land and Water Fund that would <br />enable the twO Colorado Ute Tribes to buy back senior water rights and land. <br /> <br />For the Southern Ute Indian Tribe this would mean land and water in places of their choosing, on <br />any river connected to their reservation or, on neighboring rivers outside the reservation. All the <br />land and rivers in this region are part of the Ute Legacy, <br /> <br />For the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe this could mean funds to. buv land and water. SUGO does <br />not assume to know the mind of the Ute Mountain Utes. <br /> <br />A.ll land and water would be acquired on a willing seiler basis over an elttended period (perhaps <br />30 years). The idea is that all water obli~ations that remain outstandin~ under the 1986 <br />Colorado Ute Indian Settlement A2I"eement would be alternativelv satisfied bv acauisitions <br />made tbrou~h the fund. <br /> <br />COST <br /> <br />Preliminary information we have gathered indicates th2.t a fund sufficient for the purpose here <br />described could be established for about one third of the $503 million in federal money <br />reauired to built Phase I of the ALP. A feasibility srudy needs to be done to determine <br />specifically how large a fund is need~ and how the purposes ofthe fund can be carried out in the <br />fairest way to all concerned. With your support, we need to ask the federal government to <br />com..-nence such a study immediately with existing funds in the ALP account. <br /> <br />The federal! state contributions to the fund could be. made consistent with the contributions each <br />would have made to construct Phase I of the ALP. <br /> <br />The federal govermnent and the State of Colorado created this problem by conveying land and <br />water rightS to our people, and then by subsequently giving the same land and water to non- <br />Indians. This proposal is the fairest, least dama".aing to the environment, and most economically <br />efficient idea we have heard for redressing this government created problem. For the reasons <br />