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<br />Or~~r'" <br /><J _ <J " "' <br /> <br />The attached list indicates those agencies and organizations <br />that received copies of both the March 4, 1971 Environmental <br />Statement and the revised Draft upon which this statement is <br />based. Those submitting comments on both statements are also <br />indicated. <br /> <br />Though many field reviews of the construction site had been <br />made with other agencies, a preconstruction inspection was <br />made of the site in May 1971 with representatives from the <br />Bureau of Sport Fisher ies and Wildl ife, National Park Service, <br />and the Colorado Game, Fish, and Parks Division. This inspec- <br />tion was followed by a meeting in July with this group plus <br />the Environmental Protection Agency to further discuss the <br />environmental impact of the proposed construction and secure <br />recommendations for mitigating that impact. <br /> <br />In preparing this Final Statement, consideration has been <br />given to all comments which were received on the Draft State- <br />ment and the statement revised in most instances. In some <br />cases there were misunderstandings of the proposed action and <br />these will be answered in separate corresponde~ce. <br /> <br />The main item of discussion in dissenting comments concerned <br />the relative economic value of the extra power head obtained <br />by the 8,000 feet of channelization below the dam as compared <br />with the environmental loss of this particular reach of stream. <br />Information from fish biologists indicates that because of <br />colder water that is being released from Morrow Point and will <br />likely be released at Crystal, it is doubtful that this chan- <br />nelized reach would be an attractive habitat conducive to <br />spawning and growth of fish. A few fish will continue to <br />find their way up the river--sufficient to convince the opti- <br />mistic fisherman that "the big ones are always found just be- <br />Iowa dam." <br /> <br />Because of the wide fluctuation of water level in Crystal <br />Reservoir, stratification of the reservoir waters is difficult <br />to predic~ and give assurance that it would be possible to <br />modify the water temperature with a multilevel outlet works. <br />Such modifications would also have to be made at both Morrow <br />Point and Blue Mesa. It would be difficult to justify the <br />expense of providing multilevel outlets at these two exist- <br />ing dams. <br /> <br />19 <br />