BOARD00054 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/13/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

this detention facility was already underway at this point, but the local response was a renewed need and
urgency for the project.

Bill Would Support Species Protedion on Colorado River: On October 10, the House Resources .
Subcommittee on Water and Power held a field hearing on HR 5180, a bill to authorize the federal half of
a 50-year, $626 million initiative to help endangered species and protect wildlife habitat on the lower
Colorado River.

The Bureau of Reclamation describes the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program as
a coordinated, comprehensive, long-term multi-agency effort to conserve and work towards the recovery
of endangered species, and protect and maintain wildlife habitat on the lower Colorado River.

The program, approved April 2, 2005, by then-Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, is intended to
implement an agreement among federal agencies (chiefly the Bureau) and the lower basin states-
California, Nevada, and Arizona - to restore fish and wildlife habitat along the 400 miles of the
Colorado River below Lake Mead.

The bill directs the Interior secretary (the Bureau will be the primary federal agency) to manage the
program according to the April 2, 2005, agreement, and to make further agreements with the three states
about the use of water from the river for habitat creation and maintenance based on that founding pact.
The bill would authorize "such sums as may be necessary" to meet the federal obligations of the program,
and to set up an investment fund to earn interest on any money not needed immediately for program
activities.

The bill would waive the "sovereign immunity" of the United States (protecting the federal government
from legal actions) if anyone sued to enforce the terms of the 2005 agreement. The bill also would exempt
the program's steering committee from the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires open
meetings and public involvement.

CRSP Celebrates 50th Anniversary: On October 19, Reclamation hosted a 50th anniversary celebration
of the Colorado River Storage Act of 1956 at Glen Canyon Dam.

.

In 1956, Congress passed the Colorado River Storage Project Act, or CRSP, which authorized the initial
construction of four large dams and reservoirs, including Glen Canyon Dam and Flaming Gorge Dam on
the Green River tributary, to help tame and store 34-million acre-feet of water from the turbulent
Colorado River.

At the time of its passage, the Act generated controversy because of its massive scope. Environmentalists
argued the giant reservoirs would waste water through evaporation and seepage, and that the salt content
in the water would rise. Sediment that normally flowed unimpeded down the Colorado River, they
argued, would eventually clog the system and ruin the comprehensive system of dams, reservoirs,
spillways and other measures taken along the length of the river.

Lake Powell first reached capacity in 1980 and has had its ups and downs since then, although it was
considered to be at its full capacity in 1999.

Reclamation Releases First Annual Report of Operations for Flaming Gorge Dam: On October 23,
Reclamation announced that it has completed the first Annual Report of Operations for Flaming Gorge
Dam under authority of the February 2006 Record of Decision (ROD). This is the first year of operations
of Flaming Gorge Dam under the ROD.

The report details the operations of Flaming Gorge Dam during water year 2006 and includes the .
operational decision process for the year, hydrologic conditions experienced in 2006, and an analysis of
flow and temperature objectives achieved. The report is available on Reclamation's website at

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