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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Western States Water Council <br />Water Resources Committee Minutes <br /> <br />Washington, D.C. <br />March 28, 2006 <br /> <br />Karl Dreher: That's for NSIP, but not for coop program? <br /> <br />Bob: That's correct. Coop funding is essentially level, but the increase is for the NSIP program. <br /> <br />Karl: How is it you are losing 120 gages per year? <br /> <br />Bob: We cannot add any more money to the cooperators. <br /> <br />Karl: How is it that all of the money was added to NSIP and not other programs? <br /> <br />Bob: That decision was made at UMB. <br /> <br />Dale Frink: On the BIA gages, were all of them dropped? <br /> <br />Glenn Patterson: No, not all of the gages. <br /> <br />Bob: A fairly large portion ofthe gages were cut out. The Missouri River Basin and Navajo Indian <br />Reservation in Arizona had substantial cuts. <br /> <br />Jack Stults: Who should we be talking to at BIA? <br /> <br />Bob: We have talked to BIA headquarters (HQ). They have changed their decision making process to <br />where the regional offices of the BIA take more water resource authority. They had a budget cut and a <br />change in their decision making process. I think that the decision to cut stream gaging funding was made <br />at the regional offices before, and now is made at the HQ office. <br /> <br />Glenn Patterson: Bob, can you clarify our information for Weir regarding the attrition in gages? <br /> <br />Bob: The NIP increase will help to slow that rate of loss and provide a little stability. We are hoping to <br />reestablish 30 gages nationally, and otherwise shore up where some cooperators may be likely to pull <br />their money out. <br /> <br />Rod Kuharich: I know there are a wide variety of USGS science programs and activities in the Grand <br />Canyon. Two others come to mind. One is the deep space activity with NASA and their planetary <br />programs, and the other is your biological programs. To what extent is USGS involved? <br /> <br />Bob: The Grand Canyon monitoring and research activity is almost entirely funded by power revenues. <br />It has historically been a high priority in the office of the Secretary of Interior. You mentioned the <br />planetary program. That is entirely funded by NASA. The biological resources program of USGS is <br />very important, because of the "Bird Flu." It is very important. The interplay involves three federal <br />agencies. The political process is open for you to weigh in on priorities. <br /> <br />7 <br />