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000374 . . designated. The findings from these analyses, which chart the effects of a series of plans for the river area, are presented in the report and the Environmental Impact statement. Finally, on the basis of these analyses, the study team selects one of the plans for the river area and bases a recommenda- tion on it. What Happens After the Study? The reports go to the President and the Office of Management and Budget. The President may then accept the recommendations of the report, embody them in legislation, and submit that legislation to congress. If it passes, the river is added to the system, and a one-year period ensues in which the managing agency drafts a manage- ment plan that will consider such matters as scenic easements, public access, user limits, and regulations. Public Concerns During the twelve river studies in Colorado, many of the same public concerns were expressed. The following series of questions were among those most frequently raised at public meetings. will there be any fee title condemnation? Not on any of the twelve rivers in ColOrado. The Act does not allow fee title condemnation if more than 50 percent of the corridor land is federal, which is the case in every river studied in the state. What about scenic easements? What are they. and can they be condemned? A scenic easement is an agreement between the landowner and the managing agency in which the landowner sells some of the rights that go with his land--those rights which, if exercised, would degrade the river's values. The landowner is selling the right to chanqe his land use. In a scenic easement, for instance, he might sell his right to install a junkyard, to subdivide, to cut commercial timber next to the river, or to install large signs on the river bank. But he retains title to the land; he can still sell it or bequeath it. Those who obtain it from him are still covered by the easement, which is recorded with the county. No existinq use, whether or not it is degrading the river's values, can be condemned Or abated unless the owner is willing to sell his right to continue it. An appraiser from the managing agency, the Bureau of Land Management of the Forest Service on the Colorado studies, tours the property in company with the landowner. He appraises the area first with, and then without, the rights to be sold in the easement. The difference is the value lost, which the agency pays for the easement. If the landowner believes the price is too low, he can hire an -3-