Motion for Leave to File Brief as Amici Curiae

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The City of Steamboat Springs, the City of Pueblo, the City of Golden, the Town of Vail, the Town of Breckenridge, Vail Resorts, Inc., the Upper Eagle Regional Water A.uthority, the Eagle River Water & Sanitation District, and the Colorado White Water Associat:ion hereby move the Court for leave to file a brief as amici curiae in the above captionedl matter. This motion is filed under C.A.R. 29. I. INTRCIDUCTION The Appellants in this matter, the Colorado Water Conservation Board ("CWCB") and the State and Elivision Engineers (collectively the "State"), have argued in their Opening Brief that recreation is not a beneficial use of water protected by the constitutional riglit to appropriate in Art. XVI, §6 ) of the Colorado Constitution, and that the CWCB has the authority to impose a baze minimum flow rate -- an amount sufficient only to float a kayak, on any cla.im for a recreational in-channel diversion ("RICD") under Senate Bi1101-216 ("SB 216"). On the basis of those arguments, the State is asking this Court to reverse the decision of the VfTater Court for Division No. 4 to decree the RICD water right claimed by the Upper Gunnison Fsver Water Conservancy Llistrict ("Upper Gunnison") for the full amount claimed. Nine ar.nici curiae filed a motion to participate in this matter in support oiFthe State and the azguments ;;enerally outlined above (the "State Amici"). The Court granted that motion and has accepted tk.e brief conditionally filed by the State Amici. The State Amici a:lready own many millions of acre-feet of water rights for such traditional purposes as irrigation, m.unicipal and industrial uses. Their apparent concern in this matter is that new junior recreatic?n rights may interfere with :ome undefined, future projects not even supported by a condition.al right. The State Amici join with the State to present the view that recreation is a lesser forrn of water use Tm1639 -2-