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<br />3490 <br /> <br />LETTER OF TRANS~IITTAL <br /> <br />XXXVII <br /> <br />P"('ftuse ronsumpt,ive-use estimates have been consel'vQt.iveJy made, <br />any plan of operation must be flexible enough to allow for future <br />changes in both beneficial and nOllbcncficial consumptive uses. <br />7, The problem of reduction of nonbcneficioluse5 by bosque lands <br />and maintenance of the improved eonditions on those lands is one <br />which mllst be ottackcd vigorously by the Fedcral agencies and the <br />State, The report is silent on this subject, <br />8. Thr. Bureau of ReelflDlnt,ion has assigned negative henefits t.o t.he <br />incl'ellsed sediment wh,ch will enter Elephant Butte Rese.rvoir due <br />to the proposed middle Rio Grande project" It has thereby assumed <br />that the project wos constructed with the expectation t.hnt 0nly 6,000 <br />acre-feet of sediment would enter the reservoir annually. It WitS <br />known hefore construction that an ayerage of npproximately 20,000 <br />acre-feet of sediment passed t.he reservoir site annualIy and provision <br />therefore was made in the design cnpoeity. No negativc bencfits <br />can properly he nssigned to the proposed project, <br />9, The statement by the Fish and Wildlife Service in tbe report <br />indicotes that the development of the middle Rio Grande project will <br />probably result in negat.ive benefits to fish and wildlife rr50urce., <br />Table 4, page 199, of the report sets forth the estillloted annual fishery <br />values for preproject nnd postproject. condit,ions. 'Vithout comment- <br />ing in detail upon these estimates, the State of New 11exico wishes' <br />to point out ut least. one error. A high fishing value has been assigned <br />to lakes in the San IvIareinJ urea under preprojcct conditiolls. These <br />lakes are not notuml but hove been formeu by t.he damaging sediment <br />deposition in t.he delta above Elephant Butte Reservoir, No benefit <br />may properly be computed for a condition other than thnt which <br />existetl prior to the destruction of the town of San Marei,,1 by the <br />Hood of 1929, The eliminntion of that net loss from the table would <br />very largely reduce the negilti\~e benefits to fishery values indicnted <br />in the report. <br />Viewing the fish aucl wildlife prohlems as a whole, New Mexico <br />wishes to point out that any operation of the river system or its <br />reservoirs for any purpose must conform fully wit,b the provisions <br />of the Rio Gmllrlc compact.. If, at any tirnc, it becomes neccssrrry to <br />empty Middle Valley project reservoirs ill accordance with compact <br />provisions., fish iLIHl \vildlife resources must necessnrily suffer the <br />attendant losses. <br />However, NeIV I\Iexico feels t,hat material henefits moy be deri,'ed <br />by the coordiunted effort of the inten'ste,! Federnl and State agencies <br />in the operation of the project within the terms of the eompart, <br />Operlltion of the project may be consitlerllhly different thon has <br />'been assumed by t.lie Fish and Wildlife Sen'iee and therefore deter- <br />minnt,ion of benefits cannot, be made nt the preseut time, Flexibility <br />of operntion must he permit.ted in the congressionnl aut.horizntion in <br />order to ohtn in rensOIlfl-ble benefits to fIsh find wiJdljfc resources as <br />well as for ot.her purposes. <br /> <br />Report of Corps uf Engineers <br />Specific comments on the report of the Corps of Engineers aro <br />as follows: <br />1. The report sets forth tlle est.imnted costs and benefits for the <br />combined reclumation nnd flood-control phnses of the project. New <br />Mexico objects to the eomputstion of benefits on that busis unless the <br />