25d ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 11/18/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Schwarzenegger and Republican lawmakers have been adamant about using most of the money - $5.1
billion - to build new dams because they believe new storage is the best defense against the uncertainties
resulting from climate changes.
Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, are skeptical that big, expensive reservoirs are the
answer. They have proposed less money for dams and more for alternative strategies such as conservation
programs, groundwater storage and recycling.
While the two sides remain at odds over how to spend the money, they agree that fixes need to be made.
California's population is expected to increase 30 percent over the next 20 years, and annual water
demand will outpace supply by 2 million acre-feet (a foot of water covering 2 million acres) by 2030.
Scientists say warming temperatures are likely to result in a smaller snow pack. Evidence also suggests
that dry spells will be longer and that when rain falls it is likely to be more intense.
TROUT: STREAM-STOCHING ERROR RAISES QUESTIONS: Colorado River greenback
cutthroat trout may have to remain on the endangered species list if scientists determine that some of the
greenback populations they thought they were saving are actually the similar but more common Colorado
River cutthroat trout, Colorado state biologists said last week.
Last month, Fish and Wildlife Service biologists working to restore the population of the endangered
native greenback cutthroat trout species in Colorado revealed they were stocking rivers in the state with
the wrong fish.
University of Colorado researchers discovered the mistake over the course of their three-year
investigation into FWS' work on the trout's population by using advanced genetic testing. The tests
revealed that agency biologists were stocking streams in the South Platte and Arkansas River drainages in
the state's Front Range with Colorado River cutthroats and not greenback cutthroats.
Greenback cutthroat were declared extinct in 1937 because of over fishing, pollution from mines and
competition from non-native fish. But in the 1950s, several small populations were discovered, and the
fish were declared an endangered species in 1973.
State and federal agencies, and some private groups, launched an effort to restore the greenback cutthroat,
using sperm and eggs from what were believed to be the nine relic populations to reproduce new
generations in hatcheries.
LAKE PUEBLO STORAGE LEVELS RISE: Lake Pueblo could fill to its maximum storage levels
next spring for the first time since 2000, creating a situation in which some water users would lose water
stored in the reservoir.
"If we have a wet year, there is the possibility that we could fill Pueblo Reservoir and there would
possibly be a spill," Jim Broderick, executive director of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conser~~ancy
District, said Thursday.
Tom Musgrove, manager of the Pueblo Bureau of Reclamation office, told the Southeastern board plans
are already in motion that will bring Lake Pueblo to full storage levels by 1~Jarch 15 next year.
Although the capacity of the reservoir is nearly 350,000 acre-feet, only about 257,000 acre-feet can be
stored between April 15 and Oct. 31 in order to maintain flood control capacity. During the winter
months, irrigators are able to store water in the reservoir.
Flood Protection • Water Project Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection • Conservation Plarming