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<br />Promoting Collaboration and Cooperation <br /> <br />a. The water activity addresses multiple needs or issues, including consumptive and/or non-consumptive <br />needs, or the needs and issues of multiple interests or multiple basins. <br /> <br />The Rio Grande Initiative's direct protection of river corridor land and senior surface water rights <br />addresses both consumptive and non-consumptive needs and benefits multiple entities and interests in the <br />Rio Grande Basin. These include: <br /> <br />1) Agriculture: By keeping land and water intact, this project will help sustain the agricultural <br />productivity, its consumptive uses, and its role as the basis for the area's economy for the long <br />term. <br /> <br />2) Wildlife: The riparian corridor and wetlands on the intact land along the river corridor provide <br />highly important wildlife habitat for all of the area's wildlife, and for several endangered species. <br />This is exemplified by: <br />a) Four SW A's directly on the river corridor, including the Higel, Rio Grande, Home Lake <br />and Coller SW A's. (See attached map of project area.) The CDOW has funded existing <br />river corridor conservation easements through several of its programs and is a direct <br />partnering on the Rio Grande Initiative through the GOCO Legacy grant. <br />b) Federal funding awarded through both NAWCA and the NRCS's Wetland Reserve <br />Program has supported private land conservation in this zone. <br />c) The Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses 15,000 acres of the east side <br />of the river corridor to the south of the City of Alamosa. <br />d) The Rio Grande Water Conservation District's (RGWCD) current effort to create a <br />Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, Bald Eagle <br />and Yellow Billed Cuckoo will be implemented in part and greatly enhanced by the <br />conservation of private lands in this area. <br />e) The Rio Grande Natural Area, established in 2007 by an act of Congress, encompasses <br />the river corridor from the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge south to the New Mexico <br />border. Private land conservation within this area is part ofthe Rio Grande Initiative. <br /> <br />3) Floodplain/Public Safety: Intact open land versus fragmented, developed land with roads and <br />buildings which disrupt water flows, along the river corridor provides a functional flood plain, <br />which helps reduce the potential impacts of floods on the towns and cities along the river. <br /> <br />4) Water administration: Functioning agricultural lands along the river divert water into riparian <br />wetlands through senior water rights diversions, which then create return flows to the river, thus <br />assisting the CDWR in administering the waters of the Rio Grande and meeting Colorado's <br />obligations under the Rio Grande Compact. <br /> <br />5) Urgency: The timing of this effort is urgent: changes in water use are already underway as <br />historic ranches are being bought and fragmented into smaller parcels for residential purposes. <br />(See attached news article regarding large ranch sales.) Timely action is necessary to achieve the <br />many benefits possible through the Rio Grande Initiative. <br /> <br />b. The number and types of entities represented in the application and the degree to which the activity will <br />promote cooperation and collaboration among traditional consumptive water interests and/or non- <br />consumptive interests, and if applicable, the degree to which the water activity is effective in addressing <br />intrabasin or interbasin needs or issues. <br /> <br />Page 13 of 32 <br /> <br />Rio Grande Initiative <br /> <br />Janual'Y 2008 <br />