BOARD00117 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2007
• Description: WSP Section - Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program - Long-Term Experimental Plan for Future Operation of Glen Canyon Dam EIS
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

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

MEMORANDUM

Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Harris D. Shennan
Executive Director

FROM:

Randy Seaholm ~
Chief, Water Supply Protection

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

DATE:

January 15,2007

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

SUBJECT: Agenda Item 19, January 23-24, 2007 Board Meeting:
Water Supply Protection - Glen Canyon Adaptive Management
Program-Long-Term Experimental Plan for the Future Operation of
Glen Canyon Dam

Backe:round

The Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program was implemented in response
to the Record of Decision on the Operation of Glen Canyon Dam FEIS, which was done
to comply with consultation requirements contained in the 1992 Grand Canyon
Protection Act. Recently, the Center for Biodiversity and others filed suit against the
Department of Interior regarding operations of Glen Canyon Dam based on a report,
"Status of the Colorado River Ecosystem" (SCORE report). It was noted in the SCORE
report that there needs to be a focus on the humpback chub and sediment resources
because the science seems to indicate that these resources have responded poorly to
Modified Low-Fluctuating Flows (MLFF) that was the preferred alternative contained in
the 1995 Glen Canyon Dam Operation's EIS. As part of the Settlement Agreement
reached in the lawsuit, Reclamation agreed to initiate environmental documentation
activities pursuant to NEP A and ESA with respect to modification of current, or other
prospective, operations of Glen Canyon Dam and associated management actions of
Reclamation and other agencies within the Department of Interior no later than January
31,2007.
On November 6, 2006, the Department of Interior announced its intent to prepare
an EIS on the adoption of a long-tenn experimental plan for the future operation of Glen
Canyon Dam and other associated management activities. A Long-Term Experimental
Plan is proposed to implement a structured, long-term, program of experimentation