RGBRT Minutes September 9 Final 100808

• Basin Roundtable: Rio Grande
• Title: Rio Grande RT Minutes 9/08
• Date: 9/9/2008
• Basin Roundtables - Doc Type: Minutes

San Luis Valley Resource Conseivation and Development is the sponsor/applicant Slide shoe: Map of Willow
Creek watershed - confluence just above Creede and Willow Creek flood plain, about 1.5 miles. Seeking SB
179 fiuids for work on 3,700 linear feet. Purposes: keep stream away from hot spots, contaminated areas.
Remove contaminated soils, take away, cap. Geomorphologically is stable with a single thread meandering
stream channel. Proposes include reduce evaporative loss: improve water quality. NRCS will partner to
produce planning study, set six goals, including reducing evaporation, improving water quality. Asking $50K
from basin, $200K state - they also asked for 319 fiends, which is more than a 1:1 match. Willow Creek
Reclamation Committee is having a celebration 9/12. Please come! Carishma 658-0178. (Applause!)
• "IBCC Visioning Process" - Nicole Rowan - CDM & IBCC Representativas
Explained IBCC visioning process - a vision of Colorado's water future -- needing feedback to get back to
Eric Hecox. Document (a draft) handout is result of 3 or 4 IBCC meetings. Goals and objectives to meet that
vision and ways to measure. Purpose: to look at the bigger picture, find common ground between IBCC and
CWCB. Want some feedback tonight. Mike G - Time issue. Next meeting can devote some time. Can discuss
at next meeting. Please study this document.
Discussion: JB - Objecting to a premise this is all based on. All this growth on 125 corridor - unavoidable and
favorable? I don't accept this premise as being valid. That issue needs to be on the table. Like. Send water over
there? Maybe change to DON'T send water over there. Steve and Ray - Requested input to take back to the
October IBCC meeting. Encouraged all to read this document as important, making roundtable process
meaningfiil. Described the arduous process of coming up with this statement and critical need to go back with
some real input - we need to ask for changes - ask for issues to be addressed - lots of people upset about lots
of these premises. A lot is controversial - Please make the RT operate the way it's supposed to. We need to
take back good comments - get back to DNR - This document is a starting point. Next meeting 29t" of
October. (Document available.) Ray - IBCC is beginning to work. One of the biggest challenges is to deal
with all the differences across the state. From a rural perspective, we've got to confront the perspective from
the Front Range and government, "you are making assumptions abut us we don't agree with and we're not
about to agree until you take our perspective into account." The emphasis has been about closing that Front
Range gap by us providing water for the Front Range juggernaut. Travis - explained that many of these issues
are from SWSI. Ray & Steve are referring to the gap. Remember, concerning the role of CWCB and IBCC, it
was only three years ago we began. SWSI goal was to come up with potential projects to address the gap. As
we summarize SWSI we now need to take an inventory of where we are with the gap in meeting municipal
needs. Look back to 2003 when SWSI first came to the Valley. We've made progress. I'm in favor of
concentrating on this visioning process. Ray - suggested having a meeting prior to next meeting. Steve - called
attention to some issues as "a slap in face to our interests." Travis - CWCB web site has SWSI criteria. Ray -
we don't need a review of the SWSI report to respond to the visioning exercise. SWSI is good background.
• Update on "Non - Consumptive Use Needs Assessment": Rio de la Vista & Nicole Rowan, CDM - Large
detailed GIS color maps displayed all along the wall.
All these maps are drafts. Any place that is Avet has something of importance to biology-. Environmental and
recreational values have a huge benefit to the Valley. Which wetland should we dry- up for the Front Range?
The more we can make our case on multiple fronts the better. Will make them available on the web. We're
taking them to RTs for local discussion on environment and recreation attributes. Focus is on Basin priorities.
Attributes developed statewide based on RT input. Lots of these focus on state/fed species. CDM's task is to
help RTs complete their needs assessments, including water supply availability, projects to meet needs.
Methodology including priorities and quantification and how RTs can assess non-consumptive needs.
Gathering GIS info and using data to set basin level priorities across the state: potential flow needs, habitats
addressed. This all needs implementation - Statewide products: GIS coverage, maps of RT priorities. Flow
evaluation tools, identification of flow and non-flow related resource management options. We have very good
data in this basin for wetlands, unlike other basins. These maps are not definitive. It's a way of collecting
information. Great praise for the maps. Discussion - lines between consumptive and non-consumptive blur:
how consumptive uses support non-consumptive. Mike - will be displayed somewhere.
• Hydro Power Potential - Approach ? Mike G - Charlie has offered to work with Ron Peterson to look at
hydro potential at Santa Maria and Continental. Not necessarily under this RT - but they can work on this.
Also Bob Robins at Platoro. They can report back. We need to ask if it's possible, how we might make it work.
FERC implications? Members of the RC&D Board were present: RC&D wants to do an inventory of
possibilities for grant finding to do a Valley wide innvenntoiN-. Mike G. Said he felt that the studies at Santa
RGBRT 3 Minutes September 9, 2008