[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E5-E7]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK WILDERNESS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID E. SKAGGS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 1997

  Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Rocky Mountain 
National Park Wilderness Act of 1997.
  This bill, essentially identical to ones that I introduced in the 
103d and 104th Congresses, is intended to provide important protection 
and management direction for some truly remarkable country, adding some 
240,700 acres in the park to the National Wilderness Preservation 
System.
  Covering 91 percent of the park, the wilderness will include Longs 
Peaks and other major mountains, glacial cirques and snow fields, broad 
expanses of alpine tundra and wet meadows, old-growth forests, and 
hundreds of lakes and streams. Indeed, the proposed wilderness will 
include examples of all the natural ecosystems present in the park.
  The features of these lands and waters that make Rocky Mountain a 
true gem in our national parks system also make it an outstanding 
wilderness candidate.
  The wilderness boundaries for these areas are carefully located to 
assure continued access for use of existing roadways, buildings and 
developed areas, privately owned land, and water supply facilities and 
conveyances--including the Grand River Ditch, Long Draw Reservoir, and 
the portals of the Adams Tunnel. All of these are left out of 
wilderness.
  The bill is based on National Park Service recommendations. Since 
these recommendations were originally made in 1974, the north and south 
boundaries of Rocky Mountain National Park have been adjusted, bringing 
into the park additional land that qualifies as wilderness. My bill 
will include those areas as well. Also, some changes in ownership and 
management of several areas, including the removal of three high 
mountain reservoirs, make it possible to include designation of some 
areas that the Park Service had found inherently suitable for 
wilderness.
  In 1993, we in the Colorado delegation finally were able to 
successfully complete over a decade's effort to designate additional 
wilderness in our State's national forests. I anticipate that in the 
near future, the potentially more complex question of wilderness 
designations on Federal Bureau of Land Management lands will capture 
our attention.
  Meanwhile, I think we should not further postpone resolution of the 
status of the lands within Rocky Mountain National Park that have been 
recommended for wilderness designation. Also, because of the unique 
nature of its resources, its current restrictive management policies, 
and its water rights, Rocky Mountain

[[Page E6]]

National Park should be considered separately from those other Federal 
lands.
  We all know that water rights was the primary point of contention in 
the congressional debate over designating national forests wilderness 
areas in Colorado. The question of water rights for Rocky Mountain 
National Park wilderness is entirely different, and is far simpler.
  To begin with, it has long been recognized under the laws of the 
United States and of Colorado--including in a decision of the Colorado 
Supreme Court--that Rocky Mountain National Park already has extensive 
Federal reserved water rights arising from the creation of the national 
park itself.
  Division One of the Colorado Water Court, which has jurisdiction over 
the portion of the park that is east of the continental divide, has 
already decided how extensive the water rights are in its portion of 
the park: the court has ruled that the park has reserved rights to all 
water within the park that was unappropriated at the time the park was 
created. As a result of this decision, in the eastern half of the park 
there literally is no more water with regard to which either the park 
or anybody else can claim a right.
  So far as I have been able to find out, this has not been a 
controversial decision, because there is a widespread consensus that 
there should be no new water projects developed within Rocky Mountain 
National Park. And because the park sits astride the continental 
divide, there's no higher land around from which streams flow into the 
park, meaning that there is no possibility of any upstream diversions.
  On the western side of the park, the water court has not yet ruled on 
the extent of the park's existing water rights there. However, as a 
practical matter, the Colorado-Big Thompson Project has extensive, 
senior water rights that give it a perpetual call on all the water 
flowing out of the park to the west and into the Colorado River and its 
tributaries. Thus, as a practical matter under Colorado water law, 
nobody can get new consumptive water rights to take water out of the 
streams within the western side of the park.
  And it's important to emphasize that any wilderness water rights 
amount only to guarantees that water will continue to flow through and 
out of the park as it always has. This preserves the natural 
environment of the park. But it doesn't affect downstream water use. 
Once water leaves the park, it will continue to be available for 
diversion and use under Colorado law.
  Against this backdrop, my bill deals with wilderness water rights in 
the following ways:
  First, it explicitly creates a Federal reserved water right to the 
amount of water necessary to fulfill the purposes of the wilderness 
designation. This is the basic statement of the reserved water rights 
doctrine, and is the language that Congress used in designating the 
Olympic National Park Wilderness, in Washington, in 1988.
  Second, the bill provides that in any area of the park where the 
United States, under existing reserved water rights, already has the 
right to all unappropriated water, then those existing rights shall be 
deemed sufficient to serve as the wilderness water rights, too. This 
means that there will be no need for any costly litigation to legally 
establish new water rights that have no real meaning. Right now, this 
provision would apply in the eastern half of the park. If--as I 
expect--the water court with jurisdiction over the western half of the 
court makes the same ruling about the park's original water rights that 
the eastern water court did, then this provision would apply to the 
entire park.
  The bill also specifically affirms the authority of Colorado water 
law and its courts under the McCarran amendment. And the bill makes it 
clear that it will not interfere with the Adams Tunnel of the Colorado-
Big Thompson Project, which is an underground tunnel that goes under 
Rocky Mountain National Park.
  Why should we designate wilderness in a national park? Isn't park 
protection the same as wilderness, or at least as good?
  The wilderness designation will give an important additional level of 
protection to most of the national park. Our National Park System was 
created, in part, to recognize and preserve prime examples of 
outstanding landscape. At Rocky Mountain National Park in particular, 
good Park Service management over the past 82 years has kept most of 
the park in a natural condition. And all the lands that over covered by 
this bill are currently being managed, in essence, to protect their 
wilderness character. Formal wilderness designation will no longer 
leave this question to the discretion of the Park Service, but will 
make it clear that within the designated areas there will never be 
roads, visitor facilities, or other manmade features that interfere 
with the spectacular natural beauty and wilderness of the mountains.
  This kind of protection is especially important for a park like Rocky 
Mountain, which is relatively small by western standards. As 
surrounding land development and alteration has accelerated in recent 
years, the pristine nature of the park's backcountry has become an 
increasingly rare feature of Colorado's landscape.
  Further, Rocky Mountain National Park's popularity demands definitive 
and permanent protection for wild areas against possible pressures for 
development within the park. While only about one-tenth the size of 
Yellowstone National Park, Rocky Mountain sees nearly the same number 
of visitors each year.
  This bill will protect some of our Nation's finest wild lands. It 
will protect existing rights. It will not limit any existing 
opportunity for new water development. And it will affirm our 
commitment in Colorado to preserving the very features that make our 
State such a remarkable place to live.

    Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act of 1996--Fact Sheet


                         Wilderness Boundaries

       The bill will designate the Rocky Mountain National Park 
     Wilderness, which will include 91 percent of the park. The 
     wilderness area will include a total of 240,700 acres, in 
     four separate sections:
       The northernmost section of wilderness is 82,040 acres 
     north of Fall River Road and east of the Grand River ditch. 
     It includes large areas of alpine, sub-alpine-forest, wet-
     meadow, and montane-forest ecosystems. The dominant 
     geographic features are the Mummy Range and Specimen 
     Mountain. This portion of the wilderness extends to the 
     park's north boundary, adjoining the existing Comanche Peak 
     Wilderness on the Roosevelt National Forest.
       A relatively small section of the wilderness lies between 
     Fall River Road and Trail Ridge Road, and includes 
     approximately 4,300 acres. This section includes forested 
     mountainside of lodgepole pine, Englemann spruce and 
     subalpine fir, and the park's trademark expanse of alpine 
     tundra and sub-alpine forest.
       Another fairly small section west of the Grand River Ditch, 
     which comprises approximately 9,260 acres, is generally above 
     timberline, featuring steep slopes and peaks of the Never 
     Summer Mountains, including 12 peaks reaching over 12,000 
     feet in elevation. This area adjoins the existing Neota 
     Wilderness on the Roosevelt National Forest and Never Summer 
     Wilderness on the Routt National Forest.
       The largest portion of the wilderness--approximately 
     144,740 acres--is south of Trail Ridge Road and generally 
     bounded on the east, south, and west by the park boundary. 
     This area contains examples of every ecosystem present in the 
     park. The park's dramatic stretch of the Continental Divide, 
     featuring Longs Peak (which has an elevation of 14,251 feet) 
     and other peaks over 13,000 feet, dominate this area. Former 
     reservoir sites at Blue Bird, Sand Beach, and Pear Lakes, 
     previously breached and reclaimed, are included in the 
     wilderness. The new wilderness incorporates a portion of the 
     Indian Peaks Wilderness that was transferred to the park in 
     1980, when the boundary between the park and the Arapaho-
     Roosevelt National Forest was adjusted to follow natural 
     features.


               areas excluded from wilderness designation

       The following areas are not included in the wilderness 
     designation:
       Roads used for motorized travel, water storage and 
     conveyance structures, buildings, and other developed areas 
     are not included in wilderness.
       Parcels of privately owned land or land subject to life 
     estate agreements in the park are also not included.
       Water diversion structures (see below).


                              water rights

       The legislation explicitly creates a federal reserved water 
     right for a quantity of water sufficient to fulfill the 
     purposes of the wilderness designation. The priority date is 
     the date of enactment of the bill. This general provision is 
     identical to the provision included in the 1988 legislation 
     designating part of Olympic National Park, in the state of 
     Washington, as wilderness.
       The legislation, however, includes special provisions 
     reflecting the unique circumstances of Rocky Mountain 
     National Park, where a reservation on wilderness water rights 
     is probably just a theoretical matter. A Colorado water court 
     with jurisdiction over the portion of the park east of the 
     Continental Divide has ruled that the federal government 
     already has rights to all previously unappropriated water in 
     the park, through the federal reserved water right arising 
     from the creation of the national park. Recognizing this, a 
     special provision of the bill provides that for this area 
     those existing reserved water rights shall be deemed 
     sufficient to serve as the wilderness reserved rights; this 
     will prevent unnecessary water rights adjudication.
       West of the Continental Divide, where a different water 
     court has jurisdiction, a determination has not yet been made 
     of the extent of the national park's existing reserved rights 
     in that portion of the park. If that water court determines 
     (as the water court in the east already has) that the federal 
     government already has reserved water rights to all 
     previously unappropriated water in the western portion of the 
     park, then those water rights, too, would be deemed 
     sufficient to satisfy the reservation of new wilderness water 
     rights for that portion of the park.

[[Page E7]]

       However, as a legal and practical matter, the Colorado-Big 
     Thompson Project of the Bureau of Reclamation has senior 
     water rights outside and downstream from the park that are so 
     extensive that the project has a perpetual call on all water 
     flowing into the Colorado River and its tributaries from all 
     portions of the national park west of the Contential Divide. 
     As a result, it is not possible under Colorado law for 
     anybody to acquire new consumptive water rights within the 
     western half of the park, so there could not be any new water 
     development that could be affected by the new wilderness 
     water rights.
       Further, of course, the new wilderness water rights would 
     be only for in-stream flows (not for diversion and/or 
     consumption), and therefore would amount only to a guarantee 
     or continued natural water flows through and out of the park. 
     Once water leaves the park, it would continue to be available 
     for appropriation for other purposes of the same extent as it 
     is now.


                       existing water facilities

       Boundaries for the wilderness designated in this bill are 
     drawn to exclude existing water storage and water conveyance 
     structures, assuring continued use of Grand River Ditch and 
     its right-of-way; the east and west portals of the Adams 
     Tunnel of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project (CBT); CBT gaging 
     stations; and Long Draw Reservoir. The bill includes an 
     explicit provision guaranteeing that it will not restrict or 
     affect the operation, maintenance, repair, or reconstruction 
     of the Adams Tunnel, which diverts water under Rocky Mountain 
     National Park (including lands that would be designated as 
     wilderness by the bill). The bill also deletes a provision of 
     the original national park designation legislation that gives 
     the Bureau of Reclamation unrestricted authority to develop 
     water projects within the park.

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