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Show Ui.'.-olr., N.-L. C?!,:-0 Reports complete, quick approval assured for Mill Creek Water Project construction All reports requested by vurious federal and state agencies relative to the beginning of construction on the Mill Creek Project have now been completed and are in the final review stages. Construction will probably begin immediately after the first of January, it was announced Tuesday. K. E. McDougald, chairman of the Grand County Water Conservancy Conser-vancy Board, said that representatives representa-tives of his board met in Moab Tuesday with representatives of the Bureau of Land Management to review a number of requested studies on the project. "We were told by BLM District Manager Gene Day and Area Resource Manager Delano Backus that everything appeared to be in order, and barring unforseen problems, they would be able to issue right-of-way permits sometime during the month of December," Mr. McDougald Mc-Dougald stated. Four Studies Needed Four principal items had been requested of the District by the Bureau of Land Management before they felt that permits could be issued. The first was an archaeological investigation into a number of small Anasazi sites in the vicinity of the project. That study was recently completed by the Utah Division of State History, and concluded that no significant archaeological sites would be impacted by the project. The second was a study of the possible impact to Spanish Valley should the Spanish Valley Reservoir Reser-voir dam burst. That study was prepared by Larry Anderson of the Utah Division of Water Resources, who presented maps and computer analyses showing that in such an eventuality, flood waters would primarily be confined to the existing channel of the drainage in which the reservoir is to be built, and in the normal channel of Pack Creek. Desif.pSafety Study The third was a "404 Study," required by the U. S. Corps of Army Engineers, which in general analyzed the safety aspects of the project, and provided for a review period for public comment. That report was completed and circulated circulat-ed for a 30-day comment period on Nov. 13. It was basically favorable to the project in general. The fourth request from BLM was for a detailed final recreation plan on the project. The final draft of that plan had been held up pending a decision on involvement by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources an agency which had earlier indicated that they did not plan to participate. Wildlife Resources Division Director Dir-ector Douglas Day this week contacted the Water Conservancy District, indicating that his agency was now of the opinion that an average warm-water (bass) fishery could be developed in the storage facility, and that Wildlife Resources would participate in the project by allocating $135,000 towards construction, con-struction, i With the detailed participation of Wildlife Resources now outlined, the final, recreational plan will be completed within the week and filed with the Bureau of Land Management for final review. Basically, it calls for construction of a boat ramp and fencing along with construction of the dam ; planting of fingcrling fi.sh as soon ' as the reservoir fills and beginning of plans for a recreation complex construction based on the quality of the fishery developed. Wildlife Resources agreed with an earlier decision of the Grand County Water Conservancy District that elaborate recreation area construction should not be undertaken until such time as the quality of the fishery was a known factor. The recreational facility will not be opened to public use until fish have been reared and recreational facilities constructed. Review Copies Ready Copies of the flood plan study; the Corps of Engineers 404 Study and the final recreation plan, including maps and aerial photographs photo-graphs will be on hand Monday at the Water Conservancy District office in Grand Plaza on South Main Street in Moab, and can be reviewed and commented on by anyone interested. Chairman McDougald stated that he was pleased at the assurances given his group Tuesday by the Bureau of Land Management. "This was a first-time effort for both us and the BLM," he stated, indicating that a number of the reports requested were pioneered by the Grand County Water Conservancy District. "We believe that the studies requested by the BLM were of real value, and have appreciated the cooperation of the BLM in assisting us in getting this project to a point where construction construc-tion can begin," he said. District Manager Day stated Tuesday that review work on the part of his agency can be completed in the next few weeks, and that approval from the State BLM office should follow quickly after the District analysis. Mr. McDougald indicated that construction bids should be prepared and ready for advertising in January or February, and that by the end of the 1979 construction season, waters from Mill Creek might well be flowing into the Spanish Valley Reservoir. |