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,I' f'" 4 J. U U'~ Board opposed the transfer on grounds that it might open the door for conveying additional water rights to the reservation, to the detriment of existing Colorado river water users in California. The Caljfornia Department of Fish & Game opposed the transfer because of its impact on the Wildlife Refuge and its reduction in public access to the Lake. Late in 1974, the Board learned that the Department of the Interior had been negotiating with the Quechan Tribe of the Yuma Indian Reservation to expand the boundaries of the reservation by returning to the tribe about 32,000 acres of land which the tribe had previously transferred to the United States. The tribe has announced that it will seek to obtain wilter rights for a portion of these lands. Central Utah Project In January, 1974, four environmental groups filed actions in Salt Lake City in the U.S. District Court for Utah against the Bureau of Reclamation and the Secretary of the Interior to halt construction of the Central Utah Project. However, both the District Court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the ruling of the District Court, concluded that the government had complied with all applicable laws and that construction of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project could proceed. Rainbow Bridge National Monument The legal controversies over Rainbow Bridge, discussed in prior 14 annual reports of the Board, continued during 1974. The purpose of the first suit was to limit the elevation of Lake Powell, thus reducing its usable storage capacity to less than one-half of its design capacity of 25 million acre feet. in September, a group of Navajo Indians opened a new Rainbow Bridge lawsuit entitled Nakai Dit/'Oi, Et AI y Stamm, Et A~ by filing a complaint against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for Utah. In addition to the same issues raised in the first case the court was requested to order the defendants to cease further major actions respecting operation of lake Powell, including reservoir filling, until an environmental impact statement has been filed. The National Environmental Policy Act became effective prior to adoption of long-range operating criteria for Colorado River Reservoirs. General legislation Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Legislation was passed by Congress in late 1974 and signed by President Ford on January 4, 1975, which increased the size of Grand Canyon National Park from 673,575 acres to 1,268,739 acres. The Park now includes all of the lands formerly within Grand Canyon National Monument and Marble Canyon National Monument, which were abolished. It also includes the lower portion of the Grand Canyon down to the Grand Wash Cliffs, formerly within the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. The Havasupai Indian Tribe received 185,000 acres of land in trust, with severe restrictions on the Tribe's use of the land. The legislation preserves Congressional authority relating to the possible construction of a hydroelectric project at the Bridge Canyon (Hualapai) dam site. Federal Water Rights Legislation The u.s. Department of Justice drafted a bill that provides for quantification of water rights for federal reserved lands, Indian Reservations, and international treaty commitments. The draft legislation was released by the Water Resources Council to the Interstate Conference on Water Problems in July, with a request that the Conference coordinate the views of the states on the legislation. The Board received a copy for review and participated with the Attorney General,' Department of Water Resources, and the State Water Resources Control Board in developing the state's comments. In October, the State Water Resources Control Board conducted a workshop on the proposed legislation, and the Colorado River Board's Chief Engineer presented a statement identifying the Board's concern with the bill. The statement concluded that the proposed legislation would lead to major protracted litigation on Colorado River water rights with no possible gain for California agencies holding rights to Colorado River water. Red Rock lOwers over Colorado River near Parker, Ariz.