BOARD00122 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2007
• Description: ISF Section - North Fork Escalante Creek Instream Flow Appropriation, Water Division 4 - Final Action Requested
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Bill Owens, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

DIVISION OF WilDLIFE

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Bruce McCloskey, Director
6060 Broadway .
Denver, Colorado 80216
Telephone: [phone]
wildlife. state. co. us .

For Wildlife-
For People

January 16, 2007

Mr. Dan Merriman and Ms. Linda Bassi
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Stream and Lake Protection Section
1313 Sherman Street, Room 723
Denver, Colorado 80203

Re: EMJ Squaw Pass, LLC - Injury with Mitigation Plan.

Dear Dan and Linda,

The purpose of this letter is to officially transmit the Colorado Division of Wildlife's (DOW) evaluation and
comments regarding EMJ Squaw Pass, LLC's, Injury with Mitigation Proposal for Soda and Little Bear Creeks.

Background
The CWCB requested the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) to evaluate and comment on applicant's
proposed Injury with Mitigation Proposal. As described in the January 2007, Board Memorandum, in Case No. 1-
04CW323, EMJ Squaw Pass, LLC ("EMJ") has applied for a plan for augmentation and conditional appropriative
right of exchange to replace depletions from snowmaking and domestic water uses at Echo Mountain Park, a
winter skiing and snowboard park located within the Warren Gulch watershed, tributary to Clear Creek,
approximately 4.0 miles south ofIdaho Springs. The CWCB filed a statement of opposition to the above-
referenced water court application due to potential injury to in stream flow ("I SF") water rights in the area. The ISF
water rights that could be impacted by this application are listed below:

eWCB Case Stream/Lake Amount Approp. Watershed County
No. (cfs) Date
1-87CW275 Little Bear Creek 1 12/11/87 Clear Creek Clear Creek
l-87CW274 Soda Creek 1 12/11/87 Clear Creek Clear Creek

Original Injury with Mitigation Proposal

The original mitigation plan proposed to chip seal an approximately % mile stretch of the county road adjacent to
Little Bear Creek from the confluence of Little Bear Creek with Soda Creek up to a point just above the confluence
of Little Bear Creek with Warren Gulch, and was estimated to cost approximately $75,000.00. It was assumed that
this road project would help reduce a major source of the sediment load to both Little Bear Creek and Soda Creek.
At the November 2005 meeting, several questions arose about the effectiveness of the proposal and if other
alternatives had been explored. To address the concerns expressed at the November 2006 meeting, CWCB staff
and representatives ofEMJ, TV and DOW revisited Little Bear Creek and Soda Creek to reassess the original
proposal and to determine if there were other alternatives which could be explored. The revised proposal described
below is the result of those discussions.

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Russell George, Executive Director
WILDLIFE COMMISSION, Jeffrey Crawford, Chair. Tom Burke, Vice Chair. Claire O'Neal, Secretary
Members, Robert Bray. Brad Coors. Rick Enstrom. Richard Ray. James McAnally. Ken Torres
Ex Officio Members, Russell George and Don Ament