BOARD00030 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/19/2006
• Description: Flood Section - CWCB Watershed Restoration Program Update
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORAD()

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

TO:
FROM:
DATE:
RE:

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Tom Browning, Chief - Flood Protection Program
September 7, 2006
Agenda Item 12 - September 19, 2006 CWCB Meeting
CWCB Watershed Restoration Program Update

Russell George
Executive Director

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Introduction
At its November 2005 meeting in Denver, the Board approved a non-reimbursable allocation from the eWCB
Construction Fund in the amount of $150,000 to be used for CWCB Watershed Restoration and Flood
Mitigation Program (Program) activities. A robust discussion for that agenda item took place among the
Board members regarding how the funds should be used, and how the CWCB Program should interact with
local watershed groups and other interested parties. The Board did not reach a consensus regarding
expenditure of the funds at that time (even though the funding request itself was approved), and staff was
asked to revise its Program approach for consideration by the Board at future meeting. In the meantime, funds
from the authorized amount of $150,000 (CWCB Construction Fund Bill; HB-1313) have not been expended
at this time.

During past years, the Board and the General Assembly have authorized funds for watershed restoration and
flood mitigation activities throughout Colorado. Those funds were successfully utilized for planning and
implementation of multi-objective river restoration, watershed restoration, and flood mitigation. Watershed
restoration and flood mitigation projects in Colorado provide multiple benefits to a variety of interests and to
the watersheds and stream courses where these types of projects have been carried out.

Discussion
Watershed restoration and flood mitigation projects in Colorado provide multiple benefits to a variety of
interested parties and to end users of the watersheds and stream courses where these types of projects have
been carried out. The Program objective is to provide planning and engineering services for stream restoration
studies and projects as well as matching dollars for partnering with federal agencies and local governments in
the development of flood mitigation studies and projects and to integrate the two objectives.

This fund can also work to supplement the Watershed Protection Fund (State Tax checkoff item) and the CWCB
Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Fund as appropriate. The CWCB funds can also be utilized as a state match for
leveraging federal and local funds.

Studies and projects resulting from this program can have far reaching benefits for water supply (e.g. SWSI),
tlood protection, enhancement of aesthetic and environmental quality, recreation, and increased economic
benefit.

Program Guidelines
Staff is in the process of developing program guidelines that will be useful for internal decision making efforts
as well as external understanding of program objectives and benefits. So far, we have come up with a draft

Flood Protection. Water Supply PlannIng and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning