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drafting an alternative for BLM’s consideration that will hopefully protect the ORVs, while giving water providers the ability to maintain fl exibility and certainty. If we have a draft alternative available by the Board meeting, the Staff may share this draft with the Board to obtain the Board’s input. If a dr aft alternative is not available, the Staff will describe the elements of a conceptual plan to obtain feedback from the Board. C. San Juan Public Lands Land Management Plan (“Draft Plan”) . A third planning process is occurring in the San Juan basin, ca lled the San Juan Public Lands Land Management Plan. This Plan is being developed by the Unite d States Forest Service (“USFS”) and the BLM. This process seems to be on a similar track to th e Little Snake field office track, with an FEIS scheduled to be out in December 2008. Commen ts on the DEIS and Draft Plan were due on April 11, 2008. The CWCB submitted comments on the Draft Plan and DEIS. These comments are attached to the Director’s report. Rather than asking for additional time, we recommended that the Draft Plan include a re-opener provision so that if the alternatives stakeholders process, described below, is successful that the Draft Plan could be re-opened, with an appropriate amount of environmental compliance. In addition to the USFS and BLM process, there is a stakeholder group, called the Animas River Protection Workgroup (“ARPW”), who are pursuing al ternatives to protect the ORVs associated with the Animas River basin within the San Juan basin. This group has a steering committee that has initiated a broader public pr ocess to develop alternatives fo r protecting the ORVs for the Hermosa Creek watershed, as a pilot process. These public meetings ar e the first Tuesday of every month, and the steering committee meetin gs are monthly also. The CWCB Staff (Ted Kowalski and Linda Bassi) is participati ng in these processes as a resource. In addition, the Dolores River Dialogue (“DRD”) is pursuing alternatives to protect the ORVs associated with the Dolores River basin within the San Juan basin. Linda Bassi has been attending these meetings. The DRD intends to participate with the USFS, BLM and other stakeholders in updating the Dolores River Corrid or Management Plan, which was developed in 1990. The plan will be renamed as the Dolore s River Management Plan, and will function as a decision document that will provide policy direct ion for USFS/BLM management action(s) in the Dolores River corridor. The Plan will be much more specific than the overall San Juan Public Lands Management Plan, which identifies the lower Dolores River as a Management Area 2 (Special Use Area) and lists the River as prelimin arily suitable for Wild and Scenic designation. Staff Recommendation The General Assembly has passed the CWCB Water Projects bill, which includes $400,000 to develop local alternatives for resource protection that could result in findings that certain segments are not suitable for designation. This money will become available on July 1, 2008. At the current time, there are three processe s (ARPW, the DRD, and the CRG) that have immediate needs for these financial resources fo r facilitation, project management, determining flow needs, and other related work. The curre nt processes are making significant progress in a short amount of time. In addition, the stakeholde rs have made significant contributions of time and money to assist these processes. While ther e may be other processes in future years, which could include the Yampa group, that could bene fit from State resources, perhaps additional resources could be obtained at that time. Therefore, Staff recommends that the CWCB: 1. Support the use of these funds for the three current pro cesses in place; 2. Require that these fund e xpenditures be approved by Di rector Jennifer Gimbel; 3. Require the CWCB Staff to pr ovide appropriate periodic reporting to the Board about the progress of these processes and the status of these funds. 2