[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 3, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E519-E520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK WILDERNESS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 3, 2001

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, today I am again introducing a 
bill to designate as wilderness most of the lands within the Rocky 
Mountain National Park, in Colorado. 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 previously introduced by my 
predecessor, Representative David Skaggs, and one I introduced in the 
106th Congress. Those bills in turn were based on similar measures 
proposed, including some by former Senator Bill Armstrong and others.
  Over a number of years my predecessor and I have 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 the provisions of the bill I am introducing today, 
particularly regarding the status of existing water facilities.
  Covering some 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 the wilderness that would 
be designated by this bill.
  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 
more than 25 years ago and presented to Congress by President Richard 
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 a statewide national 
forest wilderness bill. Since then, action has

[[Page E520]]

been completed on bills designating wilderness in the Spanish Peaks 
area of the San Isabel National Forest as well as in the Black Canyon 
of the Gunnison National Park, the Gunnison Gorge, and the Black Ridge 
portion of the Colorado Canyons National Conservation Area.
  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
  This kind of protection is especially important for a park like Rocky 
Mountain, which is relatively small by western standards. As nearby 
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. So, I think the bill deserves 
prompt enactment.
  I am attaching a fact sheet that outlines the main provisions of this 
bill:

        Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act April, 2001


                      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.


                                The bill

       The bill is based on one introduced by Rep. Udall in the 
     106th Congress and similar legislation proposed by former 
     Congressman David Skaggs and others in previous years. It 
     would:
       designate about 249, 562 acres within Rocky Mountain 
     National Park, or about 94 percent of the Park, as 
     wilderness, including Longs Peak--the areas included is based 
     on the recommendations prepared over 25 years ago by 
     President Nixon with some revisions in boundaries to reflect 
     acquisitions and other changes since that recommendation was 
     submitted
       designate about 1,000-acres as potential wilderness until 
     non-conforming structures are removed
       provide that if non-federal inholdings within the 
     wilderness boundaries are acquired by the United States, they 
     will become part of the wilderness and managed accordingly
       The bill would NOT:
       create a new federal reserve water right; instead, it 
     includes a finding that the Park's existing federal reserved 
     water rights, as decided by the Colorado courts, are 
     sufficient
       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, some private inholdings


                       Existing Water Facilities

       Boundaries for the wilderness are drawn to exclude existing 
     storage and conveyance structures 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 Reservior.
       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, and that additional activities for these 
     purposes will be allowed should they be necessary to respond 
     to emergencies and subject to reasonable restrictions.

     

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