[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 82 (Thursday, June 10, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1210-E1211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK WILDERNESS ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 10, 1999

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Rocky 
Mountain National Park Wilderness Act of 1999. This legislation will 
provide important protection and management direction for some truly 
remarkable country, adding nearly 250,000 acres in the park to the 
National Wilderness Preservation System.
  The bill is essentially identical to one my predecessor, 
Representative David Skaggs, introduced in October of last year, which 
in turn was based on similar measures he had proposed in the 103rd and 
104th Congresses. It also reflects previous proposals by former Senator 
Bill Armstrong and others. I am grateful to have the opportunity to 
press forward in the effort to complete the work they began.
  Over the last several years my predecessor worked with the National 
Park Service and others to refine the boundaries of the areas proposed 
for wilderness designation and consulted closely with many interested 
parties in Colorado, including local officials and both the Northern 
Colorado Water Conservancy District and the St. Vrain & Left Hand Ditch 
Water Conservancy District. These consultations provided the basis for 
many of his bill's provisions, particularly regarding the status of 
existing water facilities, and I have drawn on them in shaping the bill 
I am introducing today.
  Covering 94 percent of the park, the new wilderness will include 
Longs Peaks and other major mountains along the Great Continental 
Divide, glacial cirques and snow fields, broad expanses of alpine 
tundra and wet meadows, old-growth forests, and hundreds of lakes and 
streams, all untrammeled by human structures or passage. Indeed, 
examples of all the natural ecosystems that make up the splendor of 
Rocky Mountain National Park are included in this wilderness 
designation.
  The features of these lands and waters that make Rocky Mountain 
National park a true gem in our national parks system also make it an 
outstanding wilderness candidate.
  The wilderness boundaries are carefully located to assure continued 
access for use of existing roadways, buildings and developed areas; 
privately owned land, and areas where additional facilities and 
roadwork will improve park management and visitor services. In 
addition, specific provisions are included to assure that there will be 
no adverse effects on continued use of existing water facilities.
  This bill is based on National Park Service recommendations, prepared 
25 years ago and presented to Congress by President Nixon. It seems to 
me that, in that time, there has been sufficient study, consideration, 
and refinement of those recommendations so that Congress can proceed 
with this legislation. I believe that this bill constitutes a fair and 
complete proposal, sufficiently providing for the legitimate needs of 
the public at large and all interested groups, and deserves to be 
enacted in this form.
  It took more than a decade before the Colorado delegation and the 
Congress were finally able, in 1993, to pass the most recent bill to 
designate additional wilderness in our state's national forests. We now 
must take up the urgent question of wilderness designations of lands 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management. And the time is ripe for 
finally resolving the status of the lands within Rocky Mountain 
National Park that are dealt with in this bill.
  All Coloradans know that the question of possible impacts on water 
rights can be a primary point of contention in Congressional debates 
over designating wilderness areas. So, it's very important to 
understand that the question of water rights for Rocky Mountain 
National Park wilderness is entirely different from many considered 
before, and is far simpler.
  To begin with, it has long been recognized under the laws of the 
United States and Colorado, including 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. In December, 1993, the court 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 for either the park or 
anybody else to claim. This is not, so far as I have been able to find 
out, a controversial decision, because there is a widespread consensus 
that there should be no new water projects developed within Rocky 
Mountain National Park. And, since the park sits astride the 
continental divide, there's no higher land around from which streams 
flow into the park, so there is no possibility of any upstream 
diversions.
  As for the western side of the park, the water court has not yet 
ruled on the extent of the park's existing water rights there, although 
it has affirmed that the park does have such rights. With all other 
rights to water arising in the park and flowing west already claimed, 
as a practical matter under Colorado water law, this wilderness 
designation will not restrict any new water claims.
  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 regardless of whether or not lands 
within the park are designated as wilderness.
  These legal and practical realities are reflected in my bill--as in 
my predecessor's--by inclusion of a finding that because the park 
already has these extensive reserved rights to water, there is no need 
for any additional reservation of such right, and an explicit 
disclaimer that the bill effects any such reservation.
  Some may ask, why should we designate wilderness in a national park? 
Isn't park protection the same as wilderness, or at least as good? The 
answer is that the wilderness designation will give an important 
additional level of protection to most of the 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 83 years has 
kept most of the park in a natural condition. And all the lands that 
are 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 wildness 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 becomes 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 as does our first national park.
  At the same time, designating these carefully selected portions of 
Rocky Mountain as wilderness will make other areas, now restricted 
under interim wilderness protection management, available for overdue 
improvements to park roads and visitor facilities.
  So, Mr. Speaker, 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. Thus, the bill deserves prompt 
enactment.
  I am attaching a fact sheet giving more details about the bill:

              Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act


                    1. Rocky Mountain National Park

       Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the nation's most 
     visited parks, possesses some of the most pristine and 
     striking alpine ecosystems and natural landscapes in the 
     continental United States. This park straddles the 
     Continental Divide along Colorado's northern Front Range. It 
     contains high altitude lakes, herds of bighorn sheep and elk, 
     glacial cirques and snow fields, broad expanses of alpine 
     tundra, old-growth forests and thundering rivers. It also 
     contains Longs Peak, one of Colorado's 54 fourteen thousand-
     foot peaks.


2. Congressman Udall's Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Proposal

       Former Congressman David Skaggs from the Second District 
     had been working for years to designate certain areas within 
     the Park as wilderness. Congressman Skaggs introduced a bill 
     last year, and this proposal by Congressman Udall is 
     essentially identical.
       The Udall proposal would designate nearly 250,000 acres 
     within Rocky Mountain National Park, or about 94 percent of 
     the Park, as wilderness, including Longs Peak--the areas 
     included are based on the recommendations prepared over 24 
     years ago by President Nixon with some revisions in 
     boundaries to

[[Page E1211]]

     reflect acquisitions and other changes since that 
     recommendation was submitted; designate about 1,000 acres as 
     wilderness when non-conforming structures are removed; and 
     add non-federal inholdings within the wilderness boundaries 
     to the wilderness if they are acquired by the United States.
       The Udall proposal would NOT create a new federal reserved 
     water right; instead, it includes a finding that the Park's 
     existing federal reserved water rights, as decided by the 
     Colorado courts, are sufficient, nor include certain lands in 
     the Park as wilderness, including Trail Ridge and other roads 
     used for motorized travel, water storage and conveyance 
     structures, buildings, developed areas of the Park, and 
     private inholdings.


                      3. Existing Water Facilities

       Boundaries for the wilderness areas are drawn to exclude: 
     existing storage and conveyance structures, thereby assuring 
     continued use of the Grand River Ditch and its right-of-way; 
     the east and west portals of the Adams Tunnel and gauging 
     stations of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project; Long Draw 
     Reservoir; and lands owned by the St. Vrain & Left Hand Water 
     Conservancy District, including Copeland Reservoir.
       The bill includes provisions to make clear that its 
     enactment will not impose new restrictions on already allowed 
     activities for the operation, maintenance, repair, or 
     reconstruction of the Adams Tunnel, which diverts water under 
     Rocky Mountain National Park (including lands that would be 
     designated by the bill), or other Colorado-Big Thompson 
     Project facilities. Additional activities for these purposes 
     will be allowed, subject to reasonable restrictions, should 
     they be necessary to respond to emergencies.

     

                          ____________________