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<br />e:1 <br />'I <br /> <br />~: '; <br />-'! <br />Vi <br />;;:..' <br /> <br />An Overview of the Basin's Resource-Management Problems <br /> <br />'.J<..' <br /> <br />(attract) the species dependent on the habitat to relocate to (from) adjoining <br />properties. It might also increase (decrease) the risk of flooding for <br />downstream property owners (Reid 1993). <br /> <br />~. ~;, <br /> <br />~i: <br /> <br />Our economic, political, and legal systems have not provided clear guidance <br />about the rights and responsibilities in such instances. Nor do they provide <br />market-like solutions for, first, determining the relative importance of public <br />and private goods derived from water and related resources, and then, <br />ensuring the resources are allocated commensurately. Things become <br />complicated further as the evidence regarding the widespread extent of the <br />ecological changes in the Basin seemingly outpaces the legal and <br />institutional framework for managing the ecosystem and one ponders the <br />current generation's rights and responsibilities relative to those of the <br />future. All these factors reinforce the conclusion that persistent, less than <br />ideal allocation of the Basin's water and related resources constitutes a <br />bottom-line problem in the Basin. <br /> <br />;., <br /> <br />:,-; <br /> <br />.{~ <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />B. Contributory Problems <br /> <br />.:. <br /> <br />In the preceding section we identify the two bottom-line problems and, in <br />describing them, identify some of the major factors that contribute to them. <br />Other factors also make important contributions to the bottom-line problems <br />and we describe them in this section. Because the contributory problems are <br />too intermingled to separate neatly, our definition of individual problems and <br />our depiction of how they relate to one another is necessarily somewhat <br />arbitrary and, hence, we encourage the reader to consider each of the <br />problems only in the context of the others. <br /> <br />" <br />.~? <br /> <br />B.l. Contributory Problem #1: The Basin's Resources Have Not Been <br />Managed as Elements of an Ecosystem <br /> <br />';, <br /> <br />Ecosystems are "places where all plants, animals, soils, waters, climate, <br />people, and process oflife interact as a whole" (Salwasser et al. 1993). The <br />water and related resources of the Upper Rio Grande Basin have never been <br />managed as elements of an ecosystem, that is, they have not been managed <br />to account fully for the interactions that occur among the "plants, animals, <br />soils, waters, climate, people, and process of life" within the ecosystem. Each <br />group that has moved, stored, and used water has done so without full <br />recognition of the ripple effects on other resources and people who are part of <br /> <br />(Jt)Q6Cl <br />'..J""v v <br /> <br />89 <br />