BOARD00125 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2007
• Description: ISF Section - Injury with Mitigation - Case No. 1-04CW323, Application of EMJ Squaw Pass, LLC
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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'The CWCB filed a statement of opposition to the above-referenced water court application due .'
to potential injury to instream flow ("ISF") water rights in the area. The ISF water rights that
could be impacted by these applications are listed below:

CWCB Case Stream/Lake Amount Approp. Watershed County
No. (cfs) Date
1-87CW275 Little Bear Creek 1 12/11/87 Clear Creek Clear Creek
1-87CW274 Soda Creek 1 12/11/87 Clear Creek Clear Creek
1-87CW276 West Clear Creek 11/5 12/11/87 Clear Creek Clear Creek

The Little Bear Creek and Soda Creek ISF water rights are located downstream of Echo
Mountain and above Soda Creek's confluence with Clear Creek. A portion of EMJ's
replacement sources is directly tributary to Clear Creek and will not reach Soda Creek or Little
Bear Creek.

While the wells that serve Echo Mountain are considered tributary to Clear Creek, the stream
depletions will be lagged due to the depth and distance of the wells from the streams. EMJ
projects that its annual diversions of 35 acre-feet will result in a stream depletion of 2.9 acre-feet
per month, which represents a continuous flow of22 gallons per minute or 0.048 cfs. To address
the potential for some or all of the projected depletions from the Echo Mountain wells to accrue
to the Little Bear Creek and Soda Creek ISF reaches, EMJ submitted a proposed mitigation plan
in November 2005 and a revised mitigation plan dated November 30, 2006 based upon its work
with staff, DOW and TU. Resource Engineering, Inc. prepared both proposals for EMJ.

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Oril!inal Iniury with Mitil!ation Proposal

The original mitigation plan proposed to chip seal an approximately % mile stretch of the county
road adjacent to Little Bear Creek, which would reduce a major source of sediment loading to
both Little Bear Creek and Soda Creek. The road project would extend 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. At the November
2005 meeting, Board members had several questions about the effectiveness of the proposal, but
still made the initial finding that the mitigation proposal could enable the Board to accept the
projected injury while continuing to preserve the natural environment of Little Bear Creek and
Soda Creek to a reasonable degree. In an attempt to answer questions raised at the Board
meeting, CWCB staff and representatives of EMJ, TU and DOW visited Little Bear Creek and
Soda Creek and met more than once to reassess the original proposal and to brainstorm about
what would most effectively mitigate injury to those creeks. The revised proposal described
below is the result of those activities.

Revised Iniurv with Mitil!ation Proposal

Under the revised mitigation plan, EMJ will provide $3,000 annually for the continuing
improvement of the fishery resource within Little Bear Creek and Soda Creek. Initially, the
money will be used to stock the two creeks with desirable fish species as directed by the DOW. .
The size, species and location of stocking will be determined annually based upon site review ~