BOARD00031 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/20/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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not enough water was coming into Montana to satisfy the historic uses specified in the Compact. By
failing to regulate some water users, Wyoming is essentially taking water out of the Tongue and Powder
rivers at Montana's expense." Tongue flows hit record lows and "there is essentially no water in the
Powder River at the Moorhead gage

Special Use Permit Approved for Cloud Seeding in Wyoming: Weather Modification Incorporated is
the main contractor for cloud seeding operations for the Wyoming Water Development Commission in
their five-year $8.8M cloud seeding exploration/experiment. WMI received a special use permit from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S Forest Service, to operate 17 ground-based generators in the Sierra
Madre/Medicine Bow Mountains near Cheyenne, WY on August 30, 2006. The WWDC should be
seeding this winter. It is uncertain if the other target area under analysis (the Salt1Wyoming Mountains)
will have the same result. The SaltlWyoming Mountains may require a full-blown NEPA analysis as there
are significant issues and Wyoming may elect to scale back efforts and work on private lands. Barry
Lawrence of the Wyoming Water Development Commission reported that it took ten months and
$150,000 worth of study to get to this point. This is seen as an important step forward for the field of
weather modification operations. The ability to site ground based cloud seeding generators on public
lands high up on mountain ranges is needed for maximum ground based cloud seeding efficiency.

NWRA Annual Meeting Scheduled: The NWRA's Annual Meeting is scheduled for November 28-
December 1 at the Hotel Del Coronado, in San Diego, California. Information on this meeting will be
posted on the NWRA's website as it becomes available.

Western States Water Counci1152nd Council Meeting: The fall meeting will be held October 4-5 in
Sheridan, Wyoming. Agendas will be available soon.

WSWC Water Rights Adjudication Conference Scheduled: Washington State is hosting the annual
Water Rights Adjudication Conference October 9-11 in Seattle. Contact Barb Anderson, Conference
Coordinator, at mailto:[e-mail] or [phone].

Water Information Management Systems (WIMS) Workshop: The WSWC's 2006 Water Information
Management Systems (WIMS) Workshop was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 12-14.
As part ofthe meeting, a one-day session focused on water availability and related models.

Geological Society of America Conference: The Geological Society of America held a conference
entitled "Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments" on September 18-20 in
Longmont. The conference was held at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center.

Western Water Law Conference Scheduled: The Western Water Law Conference will be held in Las
Vegas, Nevada on September 25-26. For more information you can visit
http://www.cle.com/dev/product info.DhD?Droducts id=724

Statewide

Notice of RICD Rulemaking Published: On September 11, 2006, the Secretary of State published the
Colorado Water Conservation Board's notice of rule making for new rules for Recreational In-Channel
Diversions ("RICDs") that comport with Senate Bill 37. The Board will accept informal public comment
on the proposed rules at the September Board meeting, and the rulemaking proceedings will occur on
November 15,2006. More information is available on the CWCB website.

Irrigated Farmland in Colorado Disappearing: The amount of irrigated farmland in Colorado has
reached its lowest point in 32 years, according to state and federal data. About one-million acres of

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