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<br />GVIC irrigation system from additional expenses or any adverse impacts on water rights or water <br />supplies. The project would provide some local employment, but because of its relatively small <br />size, there would be no impact to schools, public services, or overall income in the Grand Valley. <br /> <br />Under the No Action alternative, problems associated with a river portage and dangerous <br />conditions associated with a hydraulic jump (currents caused by the structure) at the dam and <br />other river conditions near the project area would continue. At higher flows the diversion would <br />remain boatable. Under the proposed plan, recreational boaters would not be significantly <br />affected, The rocks on the downstream face of the diversion dam would reduce the severity of <br />the hydraulic jump downstream of the diversion dam crest along the 400-foot section of the dam <br />in contact with the fish passage structure. Existing flow patterns along the remainder of the dam <br />crest downstream ofthe fish passage would not be significantly changed by construction of the <br />passage. The "notch" in the diversion described previously may well attract boaters. At low <br />water, the riprap riffle and pool arrangement might not be passable byall boats; however review <br />of the design and model tests with experienced rafters, canoeists, and kayakers during the draft <br />EA review period, indicated that the passageway would probably improve conditions for boaters. <br />Preliminary designs for the riprap specify a "zigzag" flow path through alternating riffles and <br />pools which at low water minimizes the slope and thus the flow velocities the fish must <br />overcome. The .riffle and pool arrangement and notch in the dam are not intended to <br />accommodate boat use, but it is recognized that it would probably be used. Recreationist who <br />attempt to use the riffle and pools would encounter sharp turns and boulders throughout the <br />passageway, As flows increase the turns and boulders become submerged. The GVIC diversion <br />remains a potentially hazardous structure and boats should not attempt to cross it at any location <br />under any flow condition. <br /> <br />From an aesthetic standpoint, the proposed design would appear very natural in the river corridor <br />because of the native rock construction rriaterial. <br /> <br />Indian Trust Assets <br /> <br />Indian trust assets are defined as legal interests in property held in trust by the United States for <br />Indian Tribes or individuals, or property that the United States is otherwise charged by law to <br />protect. No Indian trust assets are known to occur in the project area and therefore no impacts <br />are projected under the No Action or preferred alternative. <br /> <br />Environmental Justice <br /> <br />Executive Order 12898 established environmental justice as a federal agency priority to ensure <br />that minority and low-income groups are not disproportionally affected by Federal actions. The <br />ethnicity of the majority (90 percent) of the residents in the project area is white (Grand Junction <br />Chamber of COrrimerce 1997). Other ethnicities of persons in the area include Hispanic (8 <br />percent), and Native Americans; Asians, and bfiicks, all less than 1 percent. <br /> <br />20 <br />