WSP04519

• File Number: 7630.285
• Description: Wild and Scenic - General
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 5/22/1978
• Author: US GAO
• Title: Federal Protection and Preservation of Wild and Scenic Rivers is Slow and Costly - By the Comptroller General - Report to the Congress of the United States
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

OOD~SO

The 22 completed studies hove required an average of
more than 6 1/2 years between the date the studies were
authorized and the date the study reports were submitted to
the Congress. The B~reau of Outdoor Recreation and the
Forest Service initiated these 22 studies an overage of
2 years after they were authorized. Agency officials told
us that other agency studies, such as wilderness, national
trails, and national recreation areas hod a higher priority
thon these river studies. The forest Service, in commenting
on our draft ~eport, also stated that no special funding for
river studies was provided in the act and that at th~ time
the act was passed the next fiscal year's budget was already
heing firmed up. Once initioted, the 22 studies required an
avprage of 4 years for collection and analysi3 of field data
and for preparation, review, and revision of t~e study report.
BOR provides study teams with a suggested 22 1/1-month sched-
ule from initiation of the field work to submission of the
study report to OMB. The Forest Service has suggested a
3D-month study schedule.

A May 1974 amendment to the Wild and Scenic RIvers
Act required that study reports be transmitted to the Presi-
dent for review before being sent to the Congress. The
reports for 13 of the 22 studies were forwarded to OMB for
such review. This review added an average of 8 2/3 months
to the time fcame of these 13 studies. For 11 of the 22
studies, the combined effect of these delays was such that
8 1/2 years elapsed between outhorizdtion of. the studies
and submission of the study reports to the Congress.

The Department of the Interior, in commenting on our
draft report. said that other reports were delayed at the
request of the Governor of the State in which the rivers
were located. Interior also stated that congressional com-
mittees have required fully detailed reports on all rivers
whether they qualify or not and whether or not State admin-
istration is proposed.

Slow submission of studies delays growth_
oEna ITonalsys tem----.- -

~he primary effect of the lengthy study process is that
few new rivers have been added to the national wild dnd sce-
nic rivers system, The Congress required that each river
designated as a potential addition to the national system be
studied to determine its suitability for inclusion and the
possible consequences of adding it to the notional system.
The Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, charged
with conducting the studies, forward the study report on a

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