BOARD00032 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/20/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report - Added Item - Federal and Interstate Issues - Wild and Scenic Rivers Update
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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ST A TE OF COLORADO

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

Bill Owens
Governor

MEMORANDUM

Russell George
Executive Director

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

FROM:

Dan Merriman

Date:

September 18, 2006

RE:

Agenda Item 13d - CWCB Director's Report - Added Item
Federal and Interstate Issues
Wild and Scenic Rivers Update

On September 6, 2006, the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources, Russell
George, and staffofthe Water Conservation Board met with Regional Forester, Rick Cables, and
State Director of the BLM, Sally Wisely, and their staff to further discuss the federal process of
studying rivers in Colorado as mandated in W &SR legislation and federal agency directives.
The state had expressed its concern over the apparent renewed interest and activity ofthe federal
land management agencies in evaluating rivers and streams in Colorado for W &SR eligibility
and suitability under the W &SR Act. This concern was highlighted in the on-going revisions to
the Forest Plan and the Resource Management Plan on the San Juan Public Lands management
area in southwest Colorado. The San Juan Public Lands Center (SJPLC) jointly manages BLM
and USFS lands in this area. The SJPLC had identified 71 stream segments as potentially
"eligible" under the W &SR Act. Further internal review has reduced this number to 41 segments
representing 8-9 river systems. These river systems include: the Dolores River below McPhee
Reservoir, the West Fork ofthe Dolores River, the Dolores River above McPhee Reservoir,
Hermosa Creek, the Animas River, Vallecito Creek, the Los Pinos River, the Piedra River, and
the San Juan River.

While the current focus is on the SJPLC effort, there are a number of other USFS and BLM
planning units that have plan revisions in progress or scheduled for study in the near future. I
have included the "BLM/Forest Service Plan Revision Schedule" which was provided at the
above referenced meeting (Attachment A). The federal land management agencies are
rnandated to evaluate all the streams in their management areas for possible "eligibility" under
the W &SR Act whenever performing a forest or area management plan revision. This could be

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