Platte River Cooperative Agreement

• File Number: 8461.350
• Description: Legislation
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 3/14/2005
• Author: Ted Kowalski, Rick Brown
• Title: Platte River Cooperative Agreement
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Board Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO
Colorado Water Conservation Board co''s,
Department of Natural Resources ? . ?.
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us
Bill Owens
Governor
To: CWCB Members Russell George
Executive Director
From: Ted Kowalski xoa Kunaricn
Rick Brown CWCB Duector
Dan McAuliffe
Date: March 14, 2005 vepury virector
Re: Agenda Item 30, March 22-23, 2005 Board Meeting, Water Supply Protection -
Platte River Cooperative Agreement
Background
In 1997, the Governors of the States of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming signed an agreement
with the Deparhnent of Interior to improve and/or study the habitat of four endangered species in the
Central Platte River in Nebraska. The Cooperative Agreement ("CA") was extended through June
30, 2005 to allow additional time to formulate a proposed Program and complete National
Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") activities. An extension of the CA will be necessary to finalize
and get the Program into place, which under the current schedule will occur in October 2006. The
proposed Program has three components: water, land and monitoring and research. Colorado's total
cash and cash equivalent share was 15 million dollars and 27 KAF of water via the Tamarack Plan.
Significant budget issues remain unresolved and Colorado's share could increase substantially. This
memorandum will highlight some of the key issues under discussion at the present.
Status of Cooperative Agreement Activities and Expected Timeline
The CA negotiations are continuing, but the negotiations will not be completed, and a program will
not be in place, by June 2005. As such, an extension of the CA will need to be pursued in order to
permit negotiations to continue until the Program is in place. Recent negotiations have focused on
an Adaptive Management Plan, and other issues that the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and
Wildlife Service have indicated that they needed to complete their analysis of the Program in their
Environmental Impact Statement and Biological Opinion. Right now, the current schedule (which
may be optimistic) is as follows: Spring, 2005, continue working on the program document,
including the Adaptive Management Plan; Fa112005, finalize and publish the Biological Opinion,
the Final Environmental Impact Statement, and the Record of Decision; December 2005 or January
2006, finalize and sign the Program Agreement.
Remainin2 Issues
Currently, there are several issues that remain. Following is a list of the key issues that remain:
• South Platte Water Related Activities Program, Inc. The Platte River Project is going to be
disbanded, and a new organization is being formed that will be called the South Platte Water
Related Activities Program, Inc. ("SPWRAP"). This will be a not-for-profit organization,
Flood Protection • Water Supply Planning and Finance • Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection • Conservation and Drought Planning