Governance Committee Meeting Minutes

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. the Program to consider projects not specifically listed in the Water Action Plan and generally agreed the Program can be flexible with the projects it considers. Water Management Study Project Phase I Blaine Dwyer and Jeff Bandy from Boyle Engineering gave an update on the Water Management Study. Dry years and more competition for water have made it tougher to find water in the system. The focus now in this first phase is the pulse flow and determining how best to get water down through the river system and the irrigation systems. Boyle is under contract for Phase I and has begun doing interviews of key players and working on historic flow records. A draft report is expected in November and Boyle will present it to the GC at the December meeting in Denver; a final report is anticipated in February 2008. North Platte Channel Capacitv Proiect Rocky Keehn from Short Elliott Hendrickson (SHE) gave a Power Point presentation about the status of the project. The group discussed the need to determine if state funds are available to fund the project (about $90,000) if federal funds are not available. Mike Purcell stated that Wyoming and Colorado can handle front-end costs so the project can proceed. Rocky said SEH will shortly have a specification sheet ready and will soon be seeking bids and insurance so work can begin this fall. Jerry Kenny reported that a permit application for the project was signed and submitted on July 5`h and he is still waiting to hear back from the Corps of Engineers. Attorney David Smith is investigating boundary issues to ensure the Program secures proper easements if necessary. "Thread of the river" boundary concerns have diminished due to the new approach focused on vegetation removal. Rocky reported there are just 3 or 4 affected landowners who want to make sure vegetation removal does not lead to trespassing. Mike Purcell reported that David Smith will make a presentation to the GC at the October meeting in Nebraska about boundary issues. The GC approved making ED Jerry Kenny the formal permit holder. Environmental Account (EA) Bypass/Insurance/2008 Pulse Flow Chad Smith provided an update on the monitoring/research protocol workshop to be held in Denver following the GC meeting. The group will discuss monitoring and research protocols as they relate to the 2008 pulse flow. That discussion will continue at the September AMWG/TAC meeting in Nebraska and Chad will provide a further update at the GC meeting in October. Mark Butler reported that the FWS has been hoping to do a pulse flow for some time and that items such as monitoring, insurance, bypass agreements, borrow/payback, public outreach, and Program coordination need to be finalized so a pulse flow can happen in 2008. The FWS is close to hiring an EA manager that will stay in close coordination with the Program ED Office to ensure all issues are addressed cooperatively and in concert with the Program. Brian Barels stated that there is a bypass agreement ready that is just waiting on a few other details, and that both insurance and borrow/payback need to be addressed quickly. Ann Bleed stated that the FWS needs to determine how important it is to protect pulse flow water down to Grand Island because it may be necessary to secure the appropriate permit from Nebraska. This document is a draft based on one person's notes of the meeting. The official meeting minutes may be different if corrections aze made by the Govemance Committee before approval. Page 3 of 8