9370 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9370
• Author: Colorado Water Workshop.
• Title: 1996 Colorado Water Workshop.
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: Western State College of Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

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T. "WRIGHT" DICKINSON is a partner in the Vermillion Ranch Limited Partnership,
a family owned and operated cow/calf operation consisting of seven family members. The ranch
is located in the northwest corner of Moffat County, Colorado, southwestern Wyoming and
northeastern Utah. Mr. Dickinson is a county commissioner in Moffat County, serves on the
board of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, and is vice-chair of Club 20's Natural
Resources and Public Lands Committee. He is also chairman of the Yampa River Basin
Partnership and of the Northwest Colorado BLM Resource Advisory Council.

REED DILLS is the owner of Four Corners Rafting in Salida. He helped organize the
Arkansas River Outfitters Association in the early , 80s and has worked with the Bureau of
Reclamation, Southeastern Conservancy District and other entities to coordinate water releases.
In 1990, Mr. Dills helped to negotiate recreational releases to keep the Arkansas River at 700cfs
through August 15, securing agreements with Colorado State Parks, Department of Natural
Resources, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Southeastern Water Conservancy District,
although Trout Unlimited filed suit in Federal Court to stop the agreement. In 1992, more
negotiations established minimum flows of 700cfs through August 15 to help the whitewater
industry and that agreement has been renewed every year since. Mr. Dills continues to be active
in the whitewater industry, the economic impact of which was $35 million on the Arkansas River
alone in 1995.

GREG ESPEGREN has been employed for the past six years as a Senior Water Resource
Specialist with the Water Rights Investigations section of the Colorado Water Conservation
Board. His primary responsibility at the Board is resolving instream flow issues but he also
participates with the floodplain and endangered fish sections on biological issues. Most recently,
he was involved in the successful resolution of the Snowmass Creek instream flow modification.
In January, Mr. Espegren finalized the development and documentation of the Board's
R2CROSS software. He is currently working to identify other instream flow quantification
techniques and methodologies that may be used to appropriate in stream flows on streams that
do not support coldwater fisheries. Prior to his employment with the CWCB, Mr. Espegren was
a research, associate with the Colorado Division of Wildlife in Montrose, Colorado, working on
several coldwater aquatic research projects. In addition, Mr. Espegren is a registered land
surveyor in the state of Colorado and a member of the American Fishery Society, Trout
Unlimited and the Colorado Mountain Club.

CHRISTOPHER ESTES is the statewide instream flow coordinator for the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game and founder and co-chair of the National Instream Program
Assessment (NIFPA). He has been with Alaska Fish & Game since 1977, administering and
performing in stream flow and aquatic habitat protection evaluations, including feasibility studies
for the proposed multi-billion dollar Susitna Hydroelectric Project. Mr. Estes ini~iated Alaska's
formal in stream flow program in 1986 and has served as the program coordinator since that
time. Prior to his employment in Alaska, Mr. Estes was employed by the Montana Department
of Fish Wildlife and Parks for two years and with the Prescott Ecological Survey in Arizona for
two years.