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rl', f If ,I t i 'i t I ! 9.. 'rrj.~" \ . ~. '-"'C8 ~, 0" FRYINGPA...J."",-ARKANSAS PROJECT, COLORADO 7 Ruedi Dam am] Reservoir on the Fryingpan River and that. that. reservoir could also perform a further regulatory function. on the ]fryingpan River. 'l'be~efore, the plan now proposed includes Ruedi Reservoir in lieu of Aspen ReservOir. A report demonstrating the ::Ceasibility anf] ju!;tiflcation of providing replace- ment storage and regulatory storage for Colorado Riyer Basin meg hilS been tranf'lmitted to tbe Congress nnd printed as Bouse Document 3;:13, 80th Congress, 2d session. The principal change in these bills from prior bills is the elimination of section 2(d) of prior bills. This section would have vroYided for the return of a por- tion of the cost of Rlledi Reservoir and Ashcroft Resenoir, or substitutes there- for, as if thl:'se reservoirs were purticipating projects under the Colorndo Riyer Storage Project Act (If Allril 11, 195G (70 Stat. 105), amI for nil net re\'enues derived from their operation to be pald into tbe Upper Colorado River Basin fund. Without such provision, the!;e bills make the entire cost of RlIedi Rescr- ,'oir n part of the Fryingpan-Arkansl1s project and the reiwuhursable cost tbereof returnable from project revenues. Studies completed in March 1HGl show t1w.t the expected re,ellues of the Fryin:;''lJun-Arkansas project are sufficient to return the rehnbllrsllble costs of the project including all of the reirubursuble costs of Ruedi Reservoir. These studies demonstrate the effect of certain conditions of repayment that were discUf~sed during hearings before the Subcommittee on Il'ri;:!:ation and Rec- lnmntion, Committee on Interior nnd Insular Affairs, Bouse of Representatives, on S.R. 9229 and companion measures to autborize the Frying-pan-Arkansas project in the 86th Congress. These conditions were: (a) The interest rate formula contained in the Water Supply Act of 1958 be npplied In the amortization of interest-bearing investments. (The Secretnry of the Treasury has certified the rate of 2.632 percent as being applicnble for fiscnl year 1961.) (b) Repayment of all reimbursable project costs be accomplished within 50 years. (c) A definite plan be made for the repayment of deferred municipal and in- dustrial water supply nllocation in Ruedi Dam and Reservoir. , Tbe studies are summArized in the supplemental feaSibility analysis, Frying~ pnn-Arkans:ls project, Colorado, March 19G1, 11 copy of wbicb is attached to and made a part of thiB letter. The operating principles referred to in section ~ of the bills were first printed In House Document 1Si. They have sinee been modified and nmended to con- form with chunges in the piAn and to accommodate the plan of repnyment for Ruedi Reservoir discussed above. The modified opernting principles. us last amended on December 0, 1960, and printed as House Document 130, 87th Congress, are ncceptable to tbis Departmcnt ItS R ba~is for vroject operation. Tbe men affected hy the proposed project. is an area contnining outstllnding fish nnel wildlife resources. The operating principles will safeguard the highly important sport fisbery on the western slope by providing for certain specifled minimum tlows in the Roaring Fork nnd Fryingpan Rh.-erf:!. Thi!'l DefJurtment eXllects also to work ant o[Jerating' plans to Ilrotect. to the fullest extend prac- ticable, the potentially important sport fishery re!;ources in the beadwaters of tbe Arkansas River on the ell!;tern slope. This area is relatively close to popu~ lotion c:entel's in entit-central Colol'ado and is subject to heavy use by sportsmen. The inclusion of conservation antI develollment of fish 8lHj wii<llife as one of the purposes of the project in spection 1 of the bills. together with the 8uthority provided in section 4(a) and in the Fi!;b and Wildlife Coordination Act, will permit reasonnble modifiCAtions in the project pltln for the conservation find evelopment of .fish and wildlife resources as the Department may find desirable '. ke under the authority of the proposed legislation. Such Illodificlltiolls will '/"-C1Jml1Y.in the pllll.l ?~ operation and. not in construction ot tbe project. Is provHle the fleXibIlity needed to cal"ry out the in\'e:::tigatious aud plnu- br the cOllseryation and develnplllent of fish and wildlife resources that are .~Ql1ir~d in the po:,;tauthorization stage. " The pending' bills would also provide for the construction. operatiou, nnd majn- tenanc.e of public recrill '"~lbfucilities on lnnds withdrawn or aCQuire.d for the Fryingpan.Arknnsas [lr ,C::ft" The costs nssocintNl with such facilities would be nonreiInbursable. .etl~o.urage de'\"elopment of public recreation facilities on lalld~ withdrawn or ncqufred in cOllnection with the denlopment of Federal reclamation projects. In the nbsence of one uniform national law governing the de'\"elopment of recreation resources, it is desirable tbat the wel'its of