Evaluation of Planning for Fish and Wildlife. Keystone Lake Project.

The December 19, 1961, FWS planning report contained three well conceived recommendations pertinent to wildlife resources, viz 1 a request for development of a plan to accommodate project zoning, 2 that all project lands acquired be clearly marked, and 3 that an approximate 3,701 ha 9,145 ac contiguous tract located on the Cimarron arm of the reservoir be purchased in fee, fenced at project expense, and licensed to the ODWC for wildlife management purposes. The recommendation for a zoning plan was subsequently implemented and lands off limits to hunting have been identified and signed. The CE rejected the FWSs recommendation for the purchase of the requested tract on the Cimarron arm of the reservoir because of unfavorable cost-benefit ratio 0.1 as computed by the CE. In 1974 a total of 6,273 ha 15,500 ac of incidentally acquired project property including 4,970 ha 12,280 ac of land and 1,303 ha 3,220 acof water, divided between the Cimarron and Arkansas River arms of the reservoir, was licensed to the ODWC for wildlife management. In all, 6,274 ha 15,504 ac of project lands are open to public hunting. The severe terrestrial wildlife losses anticipated by the FWS did not occur. Hunting effort currently supported by the project is greater than the FWS estimated hunting levels for resident terrestrial game species predicted for the area without-the-project. However, compensation has been achieved only as a result of intensive management involving substantial monetary outlays by the ODWC for fencing and habitat improvement programs.