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S 33 -11- 104(5) (Supp. 1990). The State Board of Parks' existing <br />water acquisition authority is contained in C.R.S. <br />§ 33- 10- 107(1(a) & (b). <br />In Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. Rocky <br />Mountain Power Co. 158 Colo. 331, 406 P.2d 798 (1965), this <br />Court affirmed the denial of the Colorado River Water <br />Conservation District's application for an instream appropriation <br />for piscatorial purposes, concluding that the District was <br />seeking a forbidden riparian right. Fort Collins seeks an <br />appropriation for instream recreational and piscatorial purposes, <br />attempting unsuccessfully to distinguish itself from the Rocky <br />Mountain Power case by installation of a boat chute and a fish <br />ladder as part of an existing diversion structure which spans the <br />river. <br />The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District agrees <br />with the lower court that structures like these, though they are <br />placed by human hands, do not constitute the "appropriation" or <br />"capture, possession, and control" of water within the meaning of <br />the applicable Colorado statutes. An "appropriation" is: <br />[T]he-application of a specified portion of <br />the waters of the state to a beneficial use <br />pursuant to the procedures prescribed by law; <br />but no appropriation of water either <br />absolute or conditional, shall be held to <br />occur [if] . . . the purported appropriator <br />of record does not have a specific plan and <br />intent to divert, store, or otherwise <br />capture, possess, and control a specific <br />quantity of water for specific beneficial <br />uses <br />C.R.S. 37- 92- 103(3)(a) (emphasis added.). <br />-7- <br />