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:/- . I THURSDAY ;,~_d<',_:" ',: ffi<)t~'_J~'i ~.::: ,~Y,.1,~,19.9~ ".".',.//~. '..... ,",. 1'-E"ZU 'M A VALLEY ) T 'We can't rollover l!I1d let thts through further reduction of happen; there's too much at,' their numbers, reproduction stake," said Miincos rancher' ! and distribution." , . and Montezuma County com- , " Animas-la Plata Project con- 'missioner Tom Colbert yester- : strnctlon Is as vital to Monte- day about the threatened clos- zuma County, the Mancos River Ing down of the Animas-la Plata , watershed and the Ule Moun- Project because of downstream taln Ule Indian Tribe as It Is to I1i1dings of an endangered spe- .. the communities. fanners and cles of fish." , ,. ranchers and others In La Plata A delegation from South- County and In San Juan western Colorado Is In .'. County, N.M.. Colbert pointed Washington, D.C.. this week out. Some of the water from the trying to get the Animas-la; Animas-la Plata Is to go to the Plata Project back Into Its con- Ute Mountain Tribe. Such an aI- structlon schedule after a fed- lotment to the Ute Mountain eral opinion on the fate of the Utes has long been Included In endangered Colorado squaw- the plans for the Animas-la fish put th~ project Into limbo.' Plata. More recently, Anlmas- According to the "Draft Bla-: La Plata water has been part of logical Opinion" Issued May 7" the Ute Mountain and Southern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife'" Ute Indian water rights settle- Service, "the Animas-la Plata; ment agreement which will Project. . . .Is likely to jeoparc1lze settle 1868 Ute claims on wa- the continued existence of the~' ters of the San Juan' Basin. Colorado squllWnsh by appre::! Colbert noted that If the clablyredUClng the lIkellhoodoC: Animas-la Plata Isn't buill. the both the survival and recovery, Ute tribes have the right to, and of th... "'Dc~t_..Jn.....th,,---wlld.i.4>robablywtll,flIe~uUfor w,ater I ---"~""'*U~~"'''''''''J'', . - ....,," -- rights on the rivers In the basin, Including the Mancos. Result- Ing litigation will tie up the wa- ters of the Mancos River, in- cluding those atready being used by fanners, ranchers and : 'communities upstream. Further Colbert pointed out, the timetable for construction \ calls for completion of the Towaoc-Hlghllne Canal by 1994 , aspartofthewaterrlght;"'Settl~. ment agreement, even though this contract Is under the Do- lores Project., ' : And the Ute settlement caIIlo. for development funds to be aI: ' located to the two tribes In con- Junction with the Animas-la Plata Project construction. I See PROJECT on Page 3A .:n,:... -