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• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: CF Section - Severance Tax Trust Fund Operational Account Recommendations
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

governments and other entities benefiting from the project expend as many local resources as
available to perform the work.
Water Planning Relationship: CWCB has identified a substantial need for identification of
deficiencies to flood mitigation projects throughout Colorado. The best example of the use of these
funds is the current nationwide focus on the condition of levees, which has already impacted some
Colorado communities and is expected to impact many more in the coming years. Many of these
levees and other flood control/mitigation projects are located in small or impoverished communities
throughout the state that are in need of both technical and, in some cases, financial assistance. Funds
from this program will be used to develop solutions to bring these projects back into technical or
regulatory compliance.
Recommendation: Staff gives a high recommendation for funding of this project because flood
protection infrastructure around the state is getting older and in need of maintenance and
improvement. A small amount of funds can be leveraged with funds from local governments and
other state and federal agencies to accomplish this work in a manner that is cost efficient to the State.
2. Historic Flood Information Database
Beneficiary/Grantee/Contractor: USGS, Various
Amount of Request: $85,000 Ranking: Low
Product Produced: A centralized Web-based database of historical flood and paleoflood
information with links to sources of systematic flood data that will allow engineers and water-
resource managers to fully use this data to provide accurate flood recurrence estimates of the largest
floods in Colorado.
Water Planning Relationship: Flood-frequency estimates may be greatly improved due to
better historical flood information. At the present, much of the historical flood information for
Colorado is stored in numerous published and unpublished reports, files, and photographs in local,
State, and Federal agency offices as well as consulting engineering offices. In addition, improved
methods of determining flood-frequency statistics will allow use of different types of historic flood
information.
Recommendation: Staff gives a low recommendation for funding of this project because of the
limited funding available.
3. Multi-Objective Watershed Restoration Projects
Beneficiary/Grantee/Conh•actor: CWCB, Various
Amount of Request: $100,000 Ranking: High
Product Produced: This project will provide funding to allow CWCB to support 4 or 5 Multi-
Objective Watershed Restoration Planning Studies, with an emphasis on watershed restoration
efforts, in watersheds throughout Colorado. In the past, CWCB's Watershed Restoration Program
has funded studies in the Fountain Creek watershed, in the Willow Creek watershed in and around
Creede, in the Lake Fork watershed near Leadville, in the Dolores River watershed in and around
Rico, and the Ski Creek Watershed on Pikes Peak.. These studies have addressed issues of mining
impacts, water supply, stream instability, and flood hazards. Using GIS and various hydraulic and
hydrologic engineering tools, the studies have identified current watershed problems, causes of those
problems, and strategies for addressing the problems in a short-term and long-tei7n manner. The
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