Laserfiche WebLink
<br />March 2, 2004 <br /> <br />To: <br /> <br />Programmatic Agreement Signatories <br /> <br />From: <br /> <br />Randall Peterson, Regional Environmental Resources Division Manager, <br />Bureau of Reclamation <br />Jeffrey Cross, Director, Grand Canyon Science Center, Grand Canyon <br />National Park <br />John Ritenour, Chief of Resource Management, Glen Canyon National <br />Recreation Area <br /> <br />Subject: <br /> <br />Approach to Treatment Planning and Treatment Implementation for <br />Cultural Resources in Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon <br />National Recreation Area <br /> <br />Reclamation has National Historic Preservation Act (NHP A) Section 106 responsibilities <br />resulting from dam operations, while the National Park Service has NHP A Section 106 <br />responsibilities resulting primarily from its authority as the permitting agency for <br />recreational, research and monitoring activities, and 110 responsibilities from its status as <br />the land manager of the National Park and Recreation Area. Reclamation and the <br />National Park Service share responsibilities for protecting, mitigating adverse effects, and <br />improving the values for which these park units were established - Reclamation under <br />the Grand Canyon Protection Act (GCPA) and the National Park Service under <br />establishing legislation as amended. <br /> <br />In the case of Section 106 compliance, Reclamation and National Park Service are <br />required to identify adverse effects from their actions to register eligible historic <br />properties and consult on the resolution of those adverse effects. With the 1996 Record <br />of Decision on the Operation of Glen Canyon Dam EIS, Reclamation altered dam <br />operations to avoid and minimize adverse effects. In accordance with its national <br />policies, the National Park Service is currently taking actions to preserve historic <br />properties in-situ and is addressing recreation impacts in its revision of its Colorado River <br />Management Plan. Through consultation with signatories to the P A, both agencies will <br />address treatment of adverse impacts in compliance with NHPA. <br /> <br />Post-dam river flows through the Grand Canyon have not exceeded 97,000 cfs, a flow <br />that occurred as a result of the extraordinary events during the 1983 floods. Reclamation <br />believes this is a reasonable estimate of the upper limit of future dam releases.' Since <br />impacts not related to dam operations (such as natural erosion) transcend any river stage <br /> <br />I Peak dam releases during the 1983 flood releases were 93,200 cfs, a situation where the releases were <br />largely uncontrolled, The frequency of the 1983 spring runoff volume was about I in 100 years. 0 2 3 4 5 <br />Extraordinary high releases were exacerbated by poor inflow forecasts. The combination of runoff and <br />forecast eITor had an approximate frequency of about I in 500 years, Since that time significant <br />improvements have been made to both operations strategies and snowpack measuring stations, These <br />improvements will significantly reduce the likelihood of a repeat of tile 1983 high flood releases, <br /> <br />03/02/2004 235 PM <br />