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the next two years as we move to wet water. Staff was fairly shocked and delighted that there is no ask for a whole lot of Federal money. (Sen. Allard is currently the ranking person in Congress from Colorado. When Sen. Allard departs in about 19 months, Congresswoman DeGette will be the most senior member of the Colorado delegation. These senior members tend to wield more influence.) The staff was told the $100m is coming from the fifteen local entities, and the Fed's participation is likely limited to funding to oversee the process as it moves through contracting with CWCB. This meeting was a green light. Thanks to Marge and Dave. It was obvious the Congressional staffers rely heavily upon the work of these expert lobbyists to clarify history, status, and details of what are sometimes arcane issues. David and Marge visited each of the remaining four House members' offices and delivered material to the staff members who were unable to attend the group meeting. They have followed up with emails and phone calls. Sen. Allard's Staff The Chatfield contingent has met previously with Mandi McKinley. This time Chief of Staff Sean Conway also attended the meeting. The meeting was a brief overview and update that lasted thirty minutes. The contingent was told that Chatfield has been ranked as a "priority" by Sen. Allard. (In as much as he is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, this is happy news.) The required federal funding to get to wet water must be approved by Congress. Last year the President zeroed-out funding for all water projects from his budget. Sen. Allard included an "earmark", but then Congress was unable to pass any FY07 domestic appropriations bills. Funding for continuation of the Chatfield FR/EIS came through the Corps FY07 Work Plan, which was developed after passage of the Continuing Resolution by Congress in lieu of the Appropriations Bill. Local funds from the fifteen participants, CWCB, and the Interbasin Roundtable 179 process are brought together to match the Federal contribution.) The Senator's staff thanked the contingent for making their jobs easier. They praised this Chatfield political effort as being done really right. John Lagomarcino probed the possibilities of the Senator facilitating a meeting between the contingent and policy makers at the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to see if it might be possible to include money for Chatfield Reallocation in the President's last budget before he leaves office. If such a meeting is deemed appropriate, it would likely be in the August timeframe, and only a couple people from the contingent would need to go back for that session. Next Steps A broader follow-up trip to DC on Chatfield Reallocation is being scheduled for late September. If any organizations have not written checks to support this lobbying and consulting effort, let me ask you to PLEASE take a moment to do so at this time! This consulting and lobbying effort is a helpful and productive way to get wet water in Chatfield in a timely fashion. We could not perform this task by ourselves. Similarly, local non-Federal sponsor CWCB has clearly stated it does not have the staff or resources to make this portion of the process happen. The consulting and lobbying team that has been assembled conducts business in a very professional manner. I've now seen this