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• Board Meeting Date: 7/11/2007
• Description: ISF Section - Willow Creek and Beaver Creek New Appropriations in Moffat County
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Summar')'
The information contained in this report and the associated appendix forms the basis for staff's
instream flow recommendation to be considered by the Board. It is staff's opinion that the
information contained in this report is sufficient to support the findings required in Rule 5i.

Colorado's Instream Flow Program was created in 1973 when the Colorado State Legislature
recognized "the need to correlate the activities of mankind with some reasonable preservation of
the natural environment" (see 37-92-102 (3) C.R.S.). The statute vests the CWCB with the
exclusive authority to appropriate and acquire instream flow and natural lake level water rights.
In order to encourage other entities to participate in Colorado's Instream Flow Program, the
statute directs the CWCB to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal
agencies. The Bureau of Land J\;(anagement recommended this segment of Willow Creek to the
CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. Willow Creek is being considered for
inclusion into the Instream Flow Program because it has a natural environment that can be
preserved to a reasonable degree with an instream flow water right.

Willow Creek is 21.6 miles long. It begins on the north flank of Black Mountain in the Elkhead
Mountains within the Routt National Forest at an elevation of approximately 9882 feet and
terminates at the confluence with Little Snake River in Wyoming. It crosses the State line at an
elevation of approximately 6555 feet in the SWl/4 SEl/4 S7 T12N R90W 6PM. Approximately
60% of the land on the 4.8 mile segment addressed by this report is publicly owned. Willow
Creek is located within Moffat County. The total drainage area of the creek is approximately 49
square miles. Willow Creek generally flows in a northwesterly direction.

The subject of this report is a segment of Willow Creek beginning at the confluence with Spring
Creek and extending downstream to the headgate of the Willow Creek Ditch, (see Map, Figures
2 and 3). The proposed segment is located approximately 27.8 miles north of Craig. The staff
has received only one recommendation for this segment, from the BLM. The recommendation
for this segment is discussed below.

Instream Flow Recommendation(s)

BLM recommended 2.6 cfs, summer, and 2.2 cfs, winter, based on its September 5, 2003 data
data collection efforts (see Appendix). The modeling results from this survey effort are within
the confidence interval produced by the R2Cross model.

Land Status Review

Total Length Land Ownership
Upper Terminus Lower Terminus (miles) % Private % Public
Confluence with Headgate of
Spring Creek Willow Creek 4.8 40% 60%
Ditch

100% of the public lands are owned by the BLM.