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The Initial Plan, as presented in the attached report of the Commissioner of Reclamation, proposes that the Congress guarantee, as a matter of Federal policy through construction and operation of necessary works, the equivalent of 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year in the Colorado River below Lee Ferry, either directly or through exchange, to satisfy consumptive uses of 2.8, 4.4, and 0.3 million acre-feet annually in Arizona, California, and Nevada, respectively. Costs to the water users would be no greater than they would have been had sufficient water been available in the river to satisfy the above amounts. To accomplish this basic objective, the Initial Plan proposes the establishment of a Pacific Southwest Development Fund, patterned after the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund, which would (1) under-write financially the guarantee referred to in the preceding paragraph, (2) provide financial assistance and protection to areas of origin from which water may be exported to the Pacific Southwest in satisfying the guarantee, (3) provide financial assistance in the repayment of costs allocated to irrigation which are beyond the ability of water users to repay, and (4) provide financial assistance for future long-range developments. To provide the revenues essential to the functioning of the Development Fund, as well as to help meet the area's power requirements, the Initial Plan proposes the immediate authorization of Bridge Canyon and Marble Canyon Dams, powerplants, and transmission system. To enhance the Development Fund, the then net revenues from the existing Hoover and Parker-Davis projects would be added after they have paid out existing costs and obligations. During development of the Initial Plan, I have not been unmindful of your concern regarding impact of any proposed developments upon Grand Canyon National Park and Grand Canyon National Monument. The high dam at Bridge Canyon would back water some 93 miles: first, 53 miles within Lake Mead National Recreation Area; then 27 miles where the Monument includes or borders the river; and, finally, the last 13 miles of the reservoir would abut the Park along the Colorado River and extend a distance of less than one mile into the Park at Havasu Creek. However, the Act of February 26, 1919 (40 Stat. 1175), creating Grand Canyon National Park, contains a reservation clearly contemplating possible need in the future for a narrow infringement such as would be herein involved to accommodate reclamation developments. The Monument as established is subject to the same policy 6Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 13,746,176 byte