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Show 2 • • . STREAKFLOW RELEASES ' * ' • .• Of greatest concern in the Bonneville Unit is the lack of adequate .•releases of water in the streams of the Uinta Mountains and the ultimate magnitude of the impacts this lack of releases may have on the. streams, the aquatic environments, esthetic values, and the total ecosystem. The Forest Service strongly requests that project reformation be carried out to provide adequate stream releases. The State of Utah has only 61.8 miles of class I fishing streams and 450.9 miles of class II fishing streams as classified by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. These 512.7 miles represent only 10 percent of Utah's 5,377 total miles of fishing streams. Approximately 2,109 miles • of former trout habitat have already been eliminated in Utah. The Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah-Project will reduce by 8.1 percent the class I, and 10.5 percent the class II fishing streams within the State. With all the present reservoirs and natural lakes in the State, there appears to be a significant imbalance of flat water recreation in relation to the ever-diminishing resource of stream-type recreation in Utah. - In the Uinta Basin, the Bonneville Unit proposes to release 6,500 acre-feet of water through the Strawberry Aqueduct for fish habitat in Rock Creek and Strawberry River. The following streams will be diverted: Rock Creek, South Fork Rock Creek, Hades Creek, Twin Creek, Wolf Creek, West Fork Duchesne, Currant Creek, Layout Creek, Water Hollow, and Strawberry River. Forest Service studies indicate an average of 17,800 acre-feet per year are needed to bypass the aqueduct and remain in these streams to maintain a minimum aquatic habitat on National Forest lands. All needed releases would be nonconsumptive uses of water (except for minor amounts of transmission loss). These releases would flow into the project's Starvation Reservoir downstream and could be used for irrigation, municipal, - „ -^.-.W.WW^.^.V.J. ^^a-^woco -i.** i.lic uxm.a basxii V/uer6 munerou5 phosphate, oil, gas, and oil shale developments are possible. This would preclude transfer of some water into the Bonneville Basin, but it could aid in developing the Uinta Basin and in attaining a better dispersal of the population within, the State. DIAMOND FORK POWERPLANT AND WASATCH AQUEDUCT " - As-pointed out by the Bureau's final statement, additional information is needed.on the powerplant system and Wasatch aqueduct. The following is taken from the statement on page 261: "The latter portion of the Forest Service environmental assessment raises pertinent questions regarding the • construction and operation of the Diamond Fork Power System. The answers |
