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STATE OF COLORADO Bruce McCloskey, Director 6060 Broadway Denver, Colorado 80216 Telephone: (303) 297-1192 Bill Owens, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF WILDLIFE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER December 16, 2004 Mr. Dan Merriman and Mr. Todd Doherty Colorado Water Conservation Board Stream and Lake Protection Section 1313 Sherman Street, Room 723 Denver, Colorado 80203 Re: Colorado Division of Wildlife Instream Flow Recommendations for the North Fork of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River. Dear Dan and Todd, The purpose of this letter is to officially transmit the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Instream Flow Recommendations for the North Fork of the Smith Fork in Gunnison County. The reach of stream covered by this flow recommendation is from the headwaters of the North Fork to the confluence with the South Fork of the Smith Fork, a distance of approximately 9.5 miles. This reach of stream is located east of the Town of Crawford. In the fall of 1998, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW), with the assistance of staff from the Colorado Water Conservation Soard (CWCS), collected stream cross section information, natural environment data, and other data needed to quantify Instream Flow needs for the North Fork of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River. The North Fork of the Smith Fork is classified as a medium stream (between 20 to 35 feet wide) and fishery surveys indicate the stream environment of the North Fork supports a self-sustaining brown and rainbow trout fishery. The stream cross section data was analyzed using the R2CROSS program. The R2CROSS output was evaluated using the methods described in Nehring (1979) and Espegren (1996)'. The CDOW has reviewed the data collected to date and based on that review recommends that the CWCS appropriated the following flow amounts to preserve the natural environment of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River to a reasonable degree: . 6.8 cubic feet per second is recommended for April 1 through October 15. This flow is required to maintain the three principal hydraulic criteria of average depth, average velocity and percent wetted perimeter; . 3.5 cubic feet per second is recommended for October 16 through March 31. This flow is required to maintain two of the three principal hydraulic criteria of average depth, average velocity and percent wetted perimeter. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES. Russell George. Executive Director WilDLIFE COMMISSION, Philip James. Chair. Jeffrey Crawford, Vice-Chair. Brad Phelps, Secretary Members. Bernard Black. Tom Burke. Rick Enstrom. Claire 0' Neal- Robert Shoemaker. Ken Torres Ex Officio Members. Russell George and Don Ament