WSP04074 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. . f -2- GUNNISON GORGE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA. The legislation designates the present 70,450 acre Gunnison Gorge Recreation Lands as a National Recreation Area. At the core of these- lands is a BLM wilderness study area (WSA) of approximately 20,240 acres, encompassing the canyon within its outer rim. The legislation includes language to protect the wilderness characteristics pending a final Administration recommendation and subsequent Congressional action. The BLM management plan for the remainder of the lands offers a unique variety of motorized and non-motorized recreational opportunities surrounding the protected canyon and river area. LOWER GUNNISON WILD AND SCENIC RIVER AREA. -- The legislation designates about 27 mi~es of the lower Gunnison River from the southern boundary of the park and through the Gunnison Gorge as a wild river area, and about 2 miles of the river, to the confluence of the North Fork, as a scenic river- area, and components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The proposed wild and scenic river corridor is larger than normal, and includes essentially all of the WSA. The bill includes provlslons to exchange impacted water rights on the river, held by the City of Delta and the Colorado Ute Electric Association, for water storage rights in Blue Mesa Reservoir and hydroelectric power uprating rights at Crystal Dam. Further discussions among the water right principals and conservationists regarding specific minimum stream flows await additional water flow modeling information available releases from the reservoirs. Modifications of this part of the bill may result from the continuing negotiati.ons. CURECANTI NATIONAL RECREATION AREA. As part of the Colorado River Storage Project Act authorization in 1956, the Curecanti National Recreation Area has been an administrative designation. The legislation, proposed by the NPS, replaces a 1965 Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) and National Park Service (NPS) cooperative management agreement with formal legislative recognition, and brings the NRA under the total management and funding authority of the National Park Service. Minor boundary adjustments proposed by the NPS for the 40,124 acre area are also included in the legislation.