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r ~. .-. .) r L~ .' '. }~~':::-,~~ COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD 102 Columbine Building 1845 Sherman Street D2nver, Colorado 80203 ./ July 5, 1973 M E H 0 RAN DUM TO: Members, Colorado Water Conservation Board and Colorado Water Congress Advisory Committee. FROH: Felix L. Span~s, Director. SUBJECT: Agenda Item No.3, Board Meeting, July 10-11, 1973 - Consideration and recommendation re S. 702, relating to the establishment of the Flat Tops Wilderness area. A bill (S. 702) has been introduced into the United States Senate by Senators Dominick and Haskell to designate the Flat Tops area of the White River National Forest in Colorado as a wilderness area. The area referred to in S. 702 contains 212,716 acres and is shown on the small sketch map attached hereto. A large map will be available and placed on display at the board meeting. Following Senator Dominick's request for recommendations from this board concerning the proposed wilderness area, a committee from the board was appointed to review the matter. This committee consists of board member Si Berthelson and staff members E. C. Hutchinson and Don Percious. A report from that committee has now been received and constitutes the principal basis for this memorandum. The area known as the "Flat Tops" is part of the White River plateau. According to the Forest Service, the watershed receives some thirty inches of precipitation annually, mostly in the form of snow and yields approximately 1.5 acre-feet of runoff per acre. The North and South Forks of the White River, the Bear-Yampa River, the East Fork of the Williams Fork River and Derby and Sweetwater Creeks have their headwaters in this region. The dominant physical features of the Flat Tops are the pre- cipitous and distinctive escarpments that mark the edges of the great volcanic cap that is the Flat Tops. These escarpments are most dis- tinctive in the area known as the Chinese Wall and the Devil's Causeway dividing the North Fork of the \'fili te River and the East Fork of the Williams Fork River.