The National Wild and Scenic River System (NWSRS) is a series of nationally designated waterways and their immediate environments (the land within the waterway corridors) that have outstanding resource values and are preserved in a free-flowing condition. The system consists of three types of rivers, as follows:

Of the 12,560 miles of waterways that are part of the NWSRS, approximately 2,423 miles of WSRs are on BLM-administered land (Interagency Wild and Scenic Rivers Coordinating Council 2008). BLM Manual 8351, Wild and Scenic Rivers – Policy and Program Direction for Identification, Evaluation, and Management, provides guidance for implementing the Wild and Scenic River Act for these WSRs. The BLM is responsible for evaluating all rivers on BLM-administered land to determine if they are appropriate for addition to the NWSRS and, as appropriate, making recommendations to Congress for legislative actions to accomplish such additions. Ultimately, the BLM uses the RMP revision process, including comments received on the Draft RMP and Draft EIS to determine which if any of the waterways in the Planning Area to recommend to Congress for addition to the NWSRS.

At present, there are no designated WSRs in the Planning Area. However, the CYFO and WFO manage lands along 20 waterways that have been found eligible for WSR designation (Map 74). All contain outstandingly remarkable values (ORV), including remarkable vistas due to the steep vertical canyon walls (some areas are more than 1,200 feet deep), immense spires, and riparian valley bottoms. These waterways were identified during a review of all BLM-administered public lands along waterways within the Planning Area. This review was done to determine eligibility, assign a tentative classification, and screen for suitability factors, as identified in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, as amended. Along the 20 eligible waterways, 14 waterway segments were found to meet the suitability factors.

Step I – Eligibility Criteria

The BLM has assessed 297 waterways in the CYFO and WFO planning areas (BLM 2002a; BLM 2003a; and BLM 2009t). There was a review of waterways in the CYFO planning area in 1993 (with an update to management prescriptions in 2003 and an addendum report in 2009) and a review of waterways in the WFO in 2002 (BLM 2003a; BLM 2002a). These reports are available on the Bighorn Basin RMP Revision Project website and contain detailed descriptions of the waterway identification and review processes. To begin these reviews, the BLM identified natural waterways (including both perennial and nonperennial rivers and streams) in the Planning Area based on guidance in BLM Manual 8351. Following this initial inventory, BLM Interdisciplinary Team members reviewed the waterways to determine if they met eligibility criteria of being free-flowing and containing at least one of the ORVs described in BLM Manual 8351. These ORVs include scenic, recreational, geologic, fish, wildlife, cultural, historic, and other similar values (e.g., ecologic/biologic diversity, paleontologic, or botanic values). Of the 297 waterways reviewed, 277 were found to not meet the definition of free-flowing or to not possess ORVs. The BLM subsequently dismissed these 277 waterways from further consideration. The BLM preliminary determined that 20 waterways meet the WSR eligibility criteria, and tentatively classified all eligible waterway segments as wild, scenic, or recreational, based on the degree of development along the waterway and on adjacent lands at the time of the evaluation. Table 3–51 lists these waterways, their lengths, the acreage of BLM-administered land within their waterway corridors, their ORVs, and their tentative classifications.

Where necessary to protect the values that made them eligible for inclusion in the NWSRS, the BLM developed specific interim management prescriptions for the public lands along eligible waterway segments. These interim management prescriptions were designed to protect the identified ORVs and maintain the tentative classifications assigned to these waterways. Where specific interim management prescriptions were not developed, the BLM used case-by-case evaluations of discretionary actions (e.g., oil and gas leasing) to ensure activities that could degrade ORVs or free-flowing characteristics would be avoided. Chapter 2 lists the current management of these eligible waterway segments

Step II – Suitability Factors

The BLM reviewed all waterway segments that meet the eligibility criteria to determine if they were also suitable for inclusion in the NWSRS. The Wild and Scenic River Act and BLM Manual 8351 list a number of factors that should be considered when assessing the suitability of waterways for inclusion in the NWSRS. Along the eligible waterways, the BLM found 14 that also met the suitability factors.

Several things caused eligible waterways to not meet suitability factors, including: management conflicts and/or challenges due to adjacent non-BLM-administered lands or mineral estate, a lack of public access to the areas, and the effectiveness of current non-WSR management in protecting the identified ORVs. Refer to the WFO and CYFO WSR Reports, available on the project website, and Appendix G of this document for additional detail on the WSR evaluation process.