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<br />BUREAU OF RECLAMATION REPORT <br /> <br />Assistance in the project investigations was provided by several <br />Federal agencies and by State and local agencies and individuals, <br />including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Consolidated Ute Indian Agency, <br />Geological Survey, National Resources Planning Board, Colorado Water <br />Conservation Board, Pine River irrigation district, Division Engineer <br />of the State Engineer's Office, and the late Judge John B. O'Rourke. <br />Officials of'local irrigation companies and individual farmers also <br />contributed helpful information and services. Free use was made of <br />information from previous reports and investigations related to the <br />project area. <br /> <br />Status of Pine River Pro~ect <br /> <br />Land Development, Location, and Ownership <br /> <br />The 69,OOO-acre area which the Pine River project was authorized <br />to serve contains lands in Indian and in non-Indian ownerships. Most <br />of the Indian-owned lands as well as a few lands in non-Indian owner- <br />ship are located in Colorado in an area known as the Pine River Indian <br />irrigation project. FOr this report both Indian and non-Indian lands <br />within this Indian project are classed as Indian lands as they both are <br />represented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in payment of Vallecito Dam <br />and Reservoir costs. Some scattered tracts outside of the Indian proj- <br />ect boundaries are also in Indian ownership and under the jurisdiction <br />of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most of the non-Indian lands in the <br />project area are located in Colorado within the boundaries of the Pine <br />River irrigation district which was organized under Colorado law in 1937 <br />to contract with the United States Government for payment of project <br />construction costs. The lands in the district generally surround those <br />in the Indian project. Some non-Indian lands are also located in Colo- <br />rado and in New Mexico outside of the Pine River Indian irrigation proj- <br />ect and the Pine River irrigation district. <br /> <br />The most recent survey of the project area, made in 1942, showed <br />33,160 acreS under ditches and receiving water from Vallecito Reservoir, <br />15,150 acres serviceable by the Bureau of Reclamation extension outlined <br />in this report, and 3,520 acres included in development plans of the <br />Bureau of Indian Affairs and private interests. The survey showed that <br />the remaining 17,170 acres of the 69,000 acres originally authorized for <br />dev~.opment on the basis of an earlier reconnaissance survey were suit- <br />able only for pasturage or were at such high elevations that they would <br />require costly distribution systems. Thus these 17,170 acres are <br />excluded from present development plans. <br /> <br />Since the 1942 survey Indians and non-Indians have been trading <br />numerous land tracts in an attempt to consolidate their holdings, As a <br />result some lands which were represented by the Pine River irrigation <br /> <br />2 <br />