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<br />River, including all of the Gunnison Gorge, <br /> <br /> <br />as a national wild & scenic river, and to <br /> <br /> <br />change the status of the Black Canyon of <br /> <br /> <br />the Gunnison National Monument to a <br /> <br /> <br />national park. <br /> <br /> <br />B. There are also overlapping plans to develop <br /> <br /> <br />some major water projects in the Gorge, each <br /> <br /> <br />with decreed conditional water rights in good <br /> <br /> <br />standing. The largest of the proposed <br /> <br /> <br />projects, that proposed by the Pittsburg and <br /> <br /> <br />Midway Coal Company, i nc 1 udes a dam and <br /> <br /> <br />reservoir that would back water up to the <br /> <br /> <br />boundary of the National Monument and <br /> <br /> <br />completely inundate the Gorge. <br /> <br /> <br />C. The best strategy for resolving this conflict <br /> <br /> <br />between the development of dams and the <br /> <br /> <br />protection of instream flows probably does not <br /> <br /> <br />include litigating the viability of the <br /> <br /> <br />conditional water rights, but might include the <br /> <br /> <br />acquisition and conversion of these water <br /> <br /> <br />rights to instream flow protection. <br /> <br /> <br />1. Pittsburg and Midway has agreed to donate <br /> <br /> <br />300 cfs out of its conditional water rights <br /> <br /> <br />in the Gorge to The Nature Conservancy and <br /> <br /> <br />has promised in the same agreement not to <br /> <br /> <br />develop its remaining conditional water <br /> <br />28 <br />