Minutes May 2008 CBRT

• Basin Roundtable: Colorado
• Title: Colorado Minutes 5/08
• Date: 5/19/2008
• Basin Roundtables - Doc Type: Minutes

IBCC Colorado River Basin
Minutes of Meeting on May 19, 2008
Harris Sherman presentation, Rick Brown discussion of SWSI Phase II,
Reserve Account grant requests
1. The June Roundtable meeting will not be held. Members will be asked to vote by email for
the three grant proposals described in the minutes below.
2. Next Meeting: Monday, July 28, Glenwood Springs Community Recreation Center, 1:00 to
4:00.
3. Approve Apri12008 meeting minutes. The nunutes were approved unanimously.
4. Reporter: These minutes were prepared by Ken Ransford, Esq., CPA, 970-927-1200,
kenransford~comcast.net.
5. Upcoming meetings:
October 8-10: Governor's conference for water providers and mLUUCipalities on how to
prepare for drought and how to incorporate climate change into drought planning, at the
Grand Hyatt Hotel in Denver. The cost is $100, which pays for both breakfast and lunch.
The Governor is scheduled to open the conference on Wednesday October 8.
b. The iiutial water education outreach meeting will beheld in Grand Junction on June 4 from
6-8 PM at the Two Rivers Convention Center.
6. Report from other Roundtables -None.
7. Report from IBCC - Agricultural water conservation. Carlyle Currier reported that the
Colorado Agricultural Water Alliance made a report to the May IBCC meeting in Walden about
conserving water used in agricultural. Specific recommendations include:
a. Phraetophyte control: Under current law, landowners have no incentive to control
Phraetophyte or water wasting plants since the landowner doesn't yield any benefit from the
conserved water.
b. There is no silver bullet in agriculture water conservation: Greater efficiency does not
automatically lead to decreased consumption.
c. Crop rotation can decrease water consumption by planting cool season crops in the spring
and hot season crops in the summer, and to use drought resistant varieties.
d. Farmers typically irrigate to create the maximum yield per acre rather than the maximum
yield per acre foot. There's a big difference.
e. Agreements with municipalities to fallow land in dry years.
8. Eric Kuhn reported on beetle kill and noted that there is no evidence that forests with high
beetle kill use less water and produce higher n~noff than forests that have not been so ravaged.
Forest management can either improve or decrease n~noff. He recommended that the CBRT
consider adding this topic for a firture meeting.
a. See Stednick, J., May/June 2008, Effects of P~r~e Beetle Ihfestatiof~s o~ Water Yield crud
Water Q7rality at the Watershed Scale ih Northern Colorado, Colorado Water, Volume 25/3.
The author concludes that where forests have trees that are not all the same age, younger
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