South Platte - Ducks Unlimited_Weld Cnty School District Summary

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Recharge projects as part of a program to augment South Platte River flows through the alluvial aquifer are a widely accepted and dependable technique for meeting the demands of water users along the river. Recently, partnerships between traditional water users and wildlife interests have been forged to increase the utility of these recharge projects as wetland developments and wildlife habitat projects. DU-fostered partnerships and associated recharge projects are addressing both wildlife and water conservation needs. DU has always extolled the significant benefits that recharge wetlands provide to migrating and wintering birds. Many of the existing recharge projects found on the Platte River in Colorado have had some share of wildlife money furnished due to the habitat benefits provided by these shallow water wetlands. Recent pilot studies conducted by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and the Colorado Division of Wildlife indicate that select recharge projects regularly hosted between 10,000 and 16,000 individuals of 20 different waterfowl species on a daily basis. The proximate benefit of this project is clear. The WCSD will be able to provide its students suitable areas to continue scholastic and athletic activties by providing irrigation water without ilijuring senior water users. The purpose of tlis project is to develop a more predictable water supply for the WCSD so that they will be able to irrigate the school grounds, sport fields and other facilities in Gilcrest, Platteville and other conununities of southern Weld County. Tlis project will allow for irrigation of future lands acquired as the district grows in size proportionate to the irrigation demands required currently. CCWCD estimates an annual accn~al of over 500 acre feet of recharge accretions over aseven-year period. Tlis amounts to enough credit under their Plan for Augmentation to allow WCSD to irrigate more than 20 acres of property currently waterless. There do exist, however, broader benefits from this work. This project will allow DU and CCWCD to test the working relationships necessary to successfully deliver a planned multi-million dollar expansion of the wetland recharge partnership into the middle reaches of the South Platte River in Colorado. This "dry nu7" of putting together a working project will aid significantly in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the partner organizations in delivering more wetland recharge projects in Weld and Morgan counties. Moreover, this project will prove to outside funding agents like the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Division of Wildlife that projects like this provide a viable means for conserving wetland and wildlife habitat along tlis stretch of the South Platte River. This is important to DU's ability to access and leverage the pillions of dollars of grant monies available from these sources (and others). Succesfiil delivery of this small-scale project will lay the groundwork for that larger effort. We also recogiize the educational benefits the position of tlis project in the nidst of Weld County and adjacent to a high school bestows and DU fully intend to make the most of that opportunity. DU's aim is to have this recharge project serve as a demonstration of the utility of wetland recharge projects in meeting water supply needs, providing habitat for wildlife, especially waterfowl, and the strength of consumptive/nonconsumptive partnerships. DU will bring this message to water users, policymakers and the citizens of Colorado at large. DU is particularly interested in investing the students of Weld County School District RE 1 with a venue for particpating in hydrological, ecological and enviromnental studies related to the relationship between water use and biological communites in the Platte River basin of the state. WCSD, CCWCD, DU and other interested parties upon succesful completion of this project will move forward with the development of a conservation curriculum based on the project that highlights the synergy between water supply development and wildlife conservation. 2