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Show To: 1445 N. 10 St. Manitowoc, Wis. 54220 February 14, 1980 Brent Blackwelder Pat Parenteau Re: The purpose and function of a Colorado River Basin Coalition Is it possible for us to arrive at some consensus about our purpose in saying we want a Colorado River Basin Coalition? From my_ perspective - one of actively working on two Upper Colorado River Basin water developments and at the same time Involving myself in Forest Service and BLM Land Use Planning which involves resources associated with the Colorado River - I'm wondering what the scope of our interest in a Coalition is! Are we - - aiming at stopping as yet incompleted water developments associated with the Colorado River Storage Project Act? - aiming at reversing the problem of salinity in the Colorado River? - aiming at preventing further water developments on the Colorado? - aiming at protecting the Colorado River from additional developments and/or water withdrawals on a large scale pending feasible developments of alternative energy sources other than coal and oil shale? - aiming at revising the way western water is used, both legally and administratively i.e., conservation? Whether the answer is any one of these or all of them, the magnitude of change involved is mind-boggling. And the amount of human effort in achieving individual goals, let alone a total objective for the Basin, is equally enormous. I raise the question of a Coalition purpose because I am seeing, in response to my White River Dam document, that the piece-meal effort people and groups are taking - even though these themseJ ves require enormous effort - are still piece meal in the total problem. Different environmental groups have different goals and means of achieving them. My Utah group aims to save fly fishing streams, primarily, because they are fishermen. I aim to protect these same Uinta Range streams because they are an important part of the wildlife ecology of this Range which, in turn, is a key mountain resource in the tri-corner region (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah) of the southwest. I aim to prevent loss of the wildlife function of the White River from a Dam but American Wilderness Alliance has greater interest in the Dolores River because their program is geared into recreation enjoyment of wildlands and wild rivers. The CAP folk have their objectives and the land management Agencies struggle along amidst the conflicts within their jurisdictional boundaries. EDF and EPC, NWF and NAS, and ARCC come in from their point of concern. Wildlife and fisheries biologists - at State and Federal levels - |
