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#I:. United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service 1475 Pine Grove Road, Suite 201 A Steamboat Springs Colorado 80487-8803 Summary of Hayden Diversion Meeting. Monday November 23. 1998 Jim Funk. President of the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District (UYWCD) opened the meeting at 7:15 and welcomed everyone. then introduced Pat Davey. Conservationist witn the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Pat gave an introduction to the Hayden Diversion Project and identified on an overhead slide the locations and water rights of all five ditches ( Marshall Roberts 19 cfs. Williams 19.4 cfs. Walker 43.5 cfs. Shelton 53.5 cfs. Gibraltar 80 cfs) There are problems common to all five headgates. Either the river is down cutting into the riverbed making it necessary to push up temporary gravel diversions in the late irrigation season to get water to flow into the irrigation ditch. Or. the river is depositing sand and gravel at the mouth of the headgate or old channel. plugging off the channel to the headgate. If this is the problem then a track hoe is needed to dig and reestablish the old channel every year. These temporary diversions and channel dredging in the river cause barriers to fish movement. degrade the water quality in the Yampa River. and are costly to replace on a yearly basis. Pat also stated that the Cary ditch. located West. of Hayden was issued a cease and desist order from the Corps of Engineers in the early 1980's. So the question was raised. how long will the irrigators be allowed to continue installing these diversions and digging channels in the river? No one knows the answer. Pat reported on a study that was commissioned in 1993 by the Colorado River Water Conservation District. the Colorado Water Conservation Board. and the Bureau of Reclamation in 1993 to study all the headgates/diversions on the Yampa River from the Mt. Harris site to the Utah border. The study revealed that-there where 119 diversions and 15 of them had substantial negative environmental impacts on the Yampa River. The 15 problematic diversions included the Marshall Roberts. Williams. Walker. Brock. Cary and the Shelton ditches. The study estimated the cost to replace these diversions and headgates at nearly $500.000 each. Of these six diversions identified in Routt county. the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District has partnered with landowners. the NRCS. CDOW. and contributed over $400.000 to move and replace the Cary and Brock Ditch headgates to better locations. River diversions are no longer needed at these two sites. Pat reported on the initial meeting held April 29. 1998 at the fairgrounds when the discussion of combining the five ditches was discussed with the ditch presidents and shareholders. At this meeting the group decided to have the NRCS proceed with a design survey if there would be no cost to the ditch, groups and the design would include 100% of all water rights in all five ditch systems. The Colorado Division of Water Resources obtained a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation. through their technical assistance to states program. to conduct a field survey of the Yampa River and the five ditches in question. The survey was started the first week of November and will be comp!~ted the last week of November. Pat then introduced Stu Simpson with the NRCS in Lakewood to talk about funding the project using PL-566 funds. The Natural Resources Conservation Service. fOf'1lerly the Sol1 Conservation Service. I s an avency of the United States !lepartllent of Agriculture fll e ru.: USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer