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. . ~ge SA S"day,:: 6, 19';' The """" __ Commentary ,1--- Daily Sentinel editorials Death of the Dolores , i Much was made of the , fact, two or so years ago, of the U.S. Bu- reau of Reclamation redefin- ing its historic mission of dam-building to one of man- aging the West's complex sys- tem of dams, power plants and irrigation eanals for the maximum benefit of all. Implicit in the Bureau's new role and mission was a recognition of the growing importance of recreation in the West's regional economy. This month, the Bureau had a rare opportunity to demonstrate just how com- mitted it is to its new role and mission. Obviously, not much. The B.ureau last week de- .cided not to increase flows in 'the Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir above a meager 20 cubic feet per sec- ond, a flow that all but guarantees the death of the Dolores as one of the West's finest trout fisheries. It is a sad prospect indeed, the slow deterioration of this magnifi- cent stream. Granted, McPhee Reser- voir was not created to pro- duce a tremendous tailwater fishery on the Dolores nor to maintain flows for whitewa- ter rafting. For that matter, a river virtually did not exist for much of the year where the lovely Dolores flows to., day, McPhee Reservoir was built to provide water to southwestern Colorado farm- ers, who have enough trouble scratching a livelihood out of the flinty earth without hav- ing to worry about a reliable water supply. Throughout the past sever- al weeks of efforts to ensure that the Dolores has a mini- mum stream flow of at least 50 cubic feet per second this summer, fishermen and other Dolores River lovers kept running into two oft-repeated arguments against increasing water releases from McPhee. One was indisputable, the' other less so. The indisput- able contention was that the drought-plagued Dolores, River snowsheds contain frightfully low levels of mois- ture. The debatable one was that the project's operating criteria are so complex that nothing can be done to save the Dolores. I For example, how seriously did the Bureau explore the possibility of purchasing wa- ter rights with uneommitted storage project revenues? When private interests of- fered to put money on the table to purchase increased flows from McPhee, the Bu- reau turned a cool shoulder, "It can't be done" greeted every suggestion for increas- ing McPhee Reservoir te- leases. Over the course of the past five years, the Dolores River has been transformed from what was once a nondescript rivulet to one of the premier recreational attractions in the Rocky Mountain West. It now faces a summer death sentence. What "Bureaucrat- ic" lunacy.