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Water Supply Reserve Account - Grant Application Form <br />Form Revised May 2007 <br />willow flycatcher and the ?-ellow-billed cuckoo in dense willow- patches along the Conejos River <br />and in the BLM's McIntire-Simpson property along the Conejos River, and these areas provide <br />winter habitat for the bald eagle. Completion of this Project will greatly improve water quality and <br />will tend to protect these species from loss of habitat due to flood or drought. <br />Provide protection for enhanced wetlands priority- areas - Correcting the problems described above <br />will protect valuable wetlands downstream from the diversion. Conservation efforts in 2006 by the <br />Natural Resources Conservation Service identified private lands within the floodplain of the <br />Conejos, Rio Grande, and Rio San Antonio rivers that contain wetlands and/or riparian areas, <br />commonly referred to as the Bosque. Lands within these areas include wet meadow's (irrigated and <br />non-irri(yated), sloughs, oxbows, marshes, seasonal ivaterlvays, willows, cottonwoods, and other <br />woody- vegetation. This project provides protection for these enhanced wetlands priority- areas by <br />restoring river stability- and maintaining channel capacity-. <br />Enhance aquifer recharge - Increasing population and development set up conflicting interests <br />between private water use and riparian habitat water use, with an ever greater likelihood that the <br />stream-aquifer system will be severely impacted by rising demands for urban and agricultural <br />water use. Private uses are consumptive, but riparian-habitat-area uses, although also <br />consumptive, are closely related to aquifer recharge. This Project reduces the incidence of extreme <br />strearnflow events and improves the recharge of the Valley's aquifers. <br />Protect fisheries, wildlife, and enhance recreational opportunities - This Project supplements and <br />supports the objectives of the Rio Grande Riparian Stabilization Project, contributing the Basin's <br />goals of maintaining good water quality, healthy riparian areas, and stable river flows. This <br />Project ensures that many downstream recreational facilities are protected from flooding and are <br />able to maintain the Gold Medal waters that draw fishermen and their families to the Vallev from <br />around the world. The Conejos is promoted by a major fly fishing shop and guide service as "one <br />of the last pristine, undeveloped river systems in the West." Thev offer US Forest Service and <br />Bureau of Land Management permits to fly- fish the Conejos and its tributaries, promoting the <br />region's spectacular scenery- and ``pristine rivers." <br />In recent years drought and the lowest water levels in recorded history greatly reduced the Valley's <br />fishing potential from prior years, which makes protection of these assets more important than <br />ever. Public fishing areas in the Conejos River watershed have mostly recovered from the effects <br />of those drought years, with medium summer use and light use in the spring and fall. Trout species <br />include Rainbow, Snake River, Yellowstone Cutthroat, Brown, and Brook. In normal water years <br />many fish are in the 16-20 inch range, and occasionally larger. An estimated 20,000 Sandhill <br />Cranes migrate through the Valley in spring and fall to and from breeding grounds in southeast <br />Idaho and wintering grounds at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro, New <br />Mexico. A number of passerine migrants also travel the Conejos and the path of the Rio Grande. <br />About 220 bird species are found along the Conejos during all four seasons, with perhaps as many <br />as 20-30 unusual birds sighted over a number of years. This Project protects these assets by <br />enhancing riparian habitat, and thus supporting the recreational opportunities of the Conejos River <br />watershed. <br />18