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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Memo to Colorado Water Conservation Board Members <br />From: Peter Evans and Gene Jencsok <br />Date: October 17, 1995 <br />SUBJECT: Agenda Item 2, October 20, 1995 Board Meeting <br />Endangered Fish Recovery ISF Water Right - Colorado River (Mains tern) <br /> <br />Page 5 <br /> <br />The CWCB reviewed these flow recommendations in detail at its May 1995 meeting, <br />The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) has reviewed the FWS recommendations and <br />concluded, in essence, that they are based upon the best available data and scientific methods, <br />The FWS and CDOW experts will be present at the October 20 meeting in Grand Junction, <br />Colorado to review their evaluation of the biological basis, the flow recommendations, and to <br />answer any questions you may have, <br /> <br />CWCB "Interim Strategy" for Endanl!ered Fish Recovery Instrearn Flows. Following <br />almost two years of discussion among Recovery Program participants, public meetings and <br />drafting, the CWCB adopted its Statement of Policy and Procedure Regarding the Appropriation <br />of Instream Flowsfor the Recovery of Endangered Fishes of the Upper Colorado River Basin <br />("1994 Statement of Policy and Procedure," or "interim strategy") at its March 1994 meeting, <br />Adoption of the Statement of Policy and Procedure by the CWCB effectively opened a pathway <br />for the appropriation of instrearn flow water rights based upon FWS flow recommendations <br />while remaining uncertainties related to both the development of Colorado's compact <br />apportionment and the hydrologic requirements of the endangered fish can continue to be <br />analyzed (if not resolved). <br />Initial efforts to develop this interim strategy were undertaken within the Recovery <br />Program based upon the 1993 agreement concerning "sufficient progress" and the mutual <br />commitment of all Recovery Program participants to produce sufficient benefits for the <br />endangered fishes through Recovery Program activities to satisfY ESA regulatory requirements <br />related to any impacts of existing water projects and the depletion impacts of future water <br />projects. Initial Recovery Program recommendations for this interim strategy were first <br />presented to the CWCB at a workshop in May 1992, and were subsequently evaluated and <br />revised .by the CWCB on the basis of several public workshops and meetings, <br />In adopting its interim strategy, the CWCB recognized that protection of in stream flows <br />for the endangered fishes has been a primary concern of the FWS and thc Recovery Program and <br />supported the Recovery Program's recognition that any water rights needed for recovery of the <br />endangered fishes should be acquired or appropriated under state law rather than under federal <br />law. The CWCB also recognized that a fundamental premise underlying Colorado's <br />participation in the Recovery Program is that protection of fish recovery instream flows will not <br />deprive the people of the state of Colorado of the beneficial use of those waters availabie by law <br />and interstate compact. <br />Flow protection efforts during the first five years of the Recovery Program were limited <br />by several factors, including limited knowledge of the life history and ecological requiremcnts of <br />the endangered fishes, difficulties quantifying Colorado's apportionment of Colorado Rivcr <br />water supplies under the Colorado and Upper Colorado River Basin Compacts of 1922 and 1948, <br />and difficulties in predicting the size and location of future human needs for those water supplies <br />