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In 2007, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a report on the eligibility of rivers in the Upper Colorado River Basin for Wild and Scenic River designation (BLM Eligibility Report, March 2007). This report identified 84 miles of the Upper Colorado River from the top of Gore Canyon downstream to a point one mile east of No Name Creek in Glenwood Springs, Colorado (segments 4 through 7) as having numerous “outstandingly remarkable values” eligible for special federal designation as a Wild and Scenic River.
Various state agencies, local governments, environmental and recreational interests, landowners, anglers, and water providers came together as an independent collaborative stakeholder group to develop a local management alternative to Wild and Scenic River designation of the Upper Colorado River with the intention of protecting and perhaps enhancing the outstandingly remarkable values on this part of the Colorado River in ways that coordinate with federal agency management. The Stakeholder Group’s Alternative Management Plan is proposed to the BLM as an alternative in the BLM and US Forest Service (USFS) Resource Management Plan revision process. The intention of this collaborative plan is to balance permanent protection of the identified outstandingly remarkable values of these river segments, while still providing flexibility for all water users, certainty for the stakeholders, and yields for water projects. |
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