South Platte - Ducks Unlimited_Weld Cnty School District Summary

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Threshold and Evaluation Criteria The application articulates how the project meets all four Threshold Criteria. Discussion: At the September 2007 CWCB meeting, the Board voted to hind DU in the amount of $278,476 to help in the costs associated with the development of several similar wetland recharge projects along the lower South Platte River in Morgan, Logan and Sedgwick Counties. Similar to the project being proposed, the lower South Platte wetland recharge projects provide multiple benefits including water that may be used to as credits to Colorado for the Platte River Recovery Program, augmentation water for irrigators and municipal users and providing for important new habitat for waterfowl and migratory birds. As the applicant points out, this type of project is being looked to help solve some of the problems seen in the upper/Huddle reaches of the South Platte River. By diverting the available winter flows and applying this water to off-stream recharge basins, relatively juiuor rights are able to continue diverting. Retiming of flows through recharge projects could be an important component in helping provide some of the much need augmentation water for those in this reach of the river. While this project is relatively small in scale and will not produce huge amounts of augmentation water, it is hoped that this project will serve as a model or pilot project that will serve as a template for others to use when developing future wetland recharge projects. DU is planning on cooperating with the CCWCD to expand the development of these projects throughout Weld and Morgan Counties. DU strives to expand the funding of these projects into multi-millions. It is the applicant's intention to fiilly leverage the grant funds to the greatest extent possible. The benefits to Weld County School District facilities should also be highlighted. Once implemented, The purpose of this 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 communities of southern Weld Countyallowing the irrigation of more than 20 acres of school district land that is currently not irrigated. Issues/Additional Needs: The applicant specifies that $160,000 will be provided as matching fiends. Please detail the matching partners and their respective matching contribution and whether these are cash, material or in-kind contributions. The project budget includes indirect costs. Please describe the indirect costs anticipated in this project. Alternatively, reallocate the fiinding sources so that the WSRA funds are not contributing to indirect costs. Staff Recommendation: The application is well prepared and the proposed project furthers the South Platte Roundtable's needs assessment. It also helps addresses a critical water supply need in the basin. Staff recommends approval of up to $42,109.90 from the South Platte Account to help fiend the Weld County School District RE 1 Wetland Partnership project contingent on resolution of the item in the issues/additional needs section. All products, data and information developed as a result of this grant must be provided to CWCB in hard copy and electronic format as part of the project documentation. This information will in turn be made widely available to Basin Roundtables and the general public and will help promote the development of a common technical platform.