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Attachment B -Examples of past ISF Increases <br />Hunter Creek <br />The first enlargements were appropriated by the Board in 1979 for three segments of Hunter <br />Creek near Aspen. The original 1975 Hunter Creek appropriations were for a single, year-round flow <br />amount. The enlargements increased flows for that same year-round period, without any seasonal <br />distinction. These enlarged flow recommendations were the result of additional, detailed biologic and <br />aesthetic studies conducted by the USFS, USFWS and DOW as part of the permitting process for the <br />Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. The enlarged filings were a critical component in the 1979 MOA between <br />the State, Pitkin County, Aspen, and SEWCD which allowed the project to move forward. <br />Starvation Creek <br />In 1980, the Board appropriated an enlargement for Starvation Creek in Saguache County. The <br />original 1976 appropriation was for a single, year-round flow amount. This enlargement added an <br />additional 1.5 cfs year-round to the decreed instream flow, without any seasonal distinction. <br />Gore Creek and Black Gore Creek <br />In 1985, the Bureau of Reclamation was conducting an EIS to evaluate the impact of marketing <br />water from Green Mountain Reservoir. Additionally, the Board was also negotiating a settlement of Vail <br />Valley Consolidated Water District application for an augmentation plan on Gore Creek utilizing water <br />from Green Mountain Reservoir. Additional biologic and hydrologic analyses were undertaken to <br />evaluate projected depletions and impacts to the natural environment which may result from both <br />proposed actions. DOW had designated Gore Creek as a Gold Medal Fishery, and the additional studies <br />indicated that the Board's existing 1977 instream flow appropriation was not adequate to preserve the <br />natural environment during the month of October when the brook and brown trout are spawning. As a <br />result, the Board voted to extend the existing summer instream flow amounts for Gore Creek and Black <br />Gore Creek through the month of October, thereby enlarging the decreed flows through the October <br />spawning period. The enlargements facilitated settlement of the VVCWD augmentation plan and allowed <br />the Bureau's water marketing program to move forward without environmental impacts. <br />Snowmass Creek <br />Iu 1992, the Board filed a Statement of Opposition to a water right application filed by the Aspen <br />Ski Corporation which contemplated diversions from Snowmass Creek. The Board's 1976 decree on <br />Snowmass Creek was for an 11 mile, single flow amount. As part of settlement negotiations, DOW and <br />the Ski Corp. conducted additional biologic studies to verify the instream flow requirements for <br />Snowmass Creek in the specific reach of stream affected by the Ski Corp diversion. In addition to <br />indicating a need for reduced flows during the winter months, the studies also identified a need for <br />increased flows during the summer months. Settlement of this case resulted in a formal modification of <br />the 1976 Snowmass Creek decree to reduce winter instream flows, and appropriation of an enlargement to <br />increase summer instream flows. <br />Controversy associated with the reduction of a decreed instream flow water right prompted the <br />Legislature to pass SB 96-64 which affirmed the Board's authority to modify instream flow decrees, and <br />outlined detailed procedures for modifications. The legislation required a detailed public review and <br />comment period for any proposed reductions in flow, and directed the Board to handle enlargements to <br />flow as new water right appropriations. <br />