Agenda Item: Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement ‎(3)‎

• File Number: 8461.100
• Description: Adaptive Management Workgroup
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 7/17/2000
• Author: Rick Brown, Randy Seaholm
• Title: Agenda Item: Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Board Memo

STATE OF COLORADO
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone] MEMORANDUM
To: Colorado Water Conservation Board Bill Owens
Governor
From: Rick Brown, Platte River Coordinator, Interstate Streams Investigation Greg E.Walcher
Randy Seaholm, Chief, Interstate Streams Investigation ExecuHve Director
Peter H
Date: July 17, 2000 H. Evans
CWCB Director
Subject: Agenda Item 19.d., July 24-25, 2000 Board Meeting. Platte River Dan McAuliffe
Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement. Deputy Director
1. Introduction
In 1997 the Governors of the states of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming signed an agreement with
the Department of Interior to improve and/or study the habitat of four endangered species in the
Central Platte River in Nebraska. The proposed program has three components: water, land, and
monitoring and research. This memorandum will highlight the status of the negotiations and
summari•ze some of the key activities of several of the Cooperative Agreement (CA) Committees.
II. Status of Negotiations
Negotiation of a long-term agreement could begin as early as January 2001. Colorado's willingness
to enter into negotiations is of coarse contingent on the acceptability of the proposed program
elements, and the outcome of the National Environmental Policy Act evaluation process.
IIL Status of Cooperative Agreement Activities
The focus of our work effort over the last two months has begun to shift from individual committee
activities to assembling the individual pieces into a"proposed program" which can undergo
National Environmental Policy Act evaluation. As we begin to assemble the proposed program it
is apparent that considerable work has been completed. However, we have also identified many
tasks which are not complete and there is some concern that some of these tasks may be rolled
forward as work tasks to be completed during the implementation of the proposed program.
Our challenge is to complete as much work as possible in order to increase the level of certainty
associated with the proposed program. However, in some cases there is either insufficient time
and/or limited information to make definitive decisions. In these cases it may make sense to move
completion of the tasks forward. We will continue to carefully assess the level of detail and
certainty that Colorado can accept.
A brief summary of the status of important individual committee activities is provided below:
• The Water Action Plan was once again the center of attention. In May and June we saw the
three states pull together and reach the water goal of 130,000-150,000 acre feet! The precise
quantity of water is being defined by modeling efforts but we have confidence that we will at
least make the lower limit.