4-06CW229 Supplemental Data

• Case Number: 06CW0229
• Stream Name: South Fork Smith Fork Gunnison river
• Watershed: Upper Gunnison
• Water Division: 4
• Water District: 40
• County: Gunnison
• Instream Flow App - Doc Type: Supplemental Data

Summary
The information contained in this report and the associated instream flow file folder forms the
basis for the instream flow recommendation to be considered by the Board. It is staff's opinion
that the information contained in this report is sufficient to support the findings required in Rule
5 i.
Colorado's Instream Flow Program was created in 1973 when the Colorado State Legislature
recognized "the need to correlate the activities of mankind with some reasonable preservation of
the natural environment" (see 37 -92 -102 (3) C.R.S.). The statute vests the CWCB with the
exclusive authority to appropriate and acquire instream flow and natural lake level water rights.
In order to encourage other entities to participate in Colorado's Instream Flow Program, the
statute directs the CWCB to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal
agencies. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) recommended this segment of the South
Fork of the Smith Fork to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. The South
Fork of the Smith Fork is being considered for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program because
it has a natural environment that can be preserved to a reasonable degree with an instream flow
water right.
The CDOW is forwarding this stream flow recommendation to the CWCB to meet the State of
Colorado's policy "... that the wildlife and their environment are to be protected, preserved,
enhanced, and managed for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the people of this state and its
visitors ... and that, to carry out such program and policy, there shall be a continuous operation
of planning, acquisition, and development of wildlife habitats and facilities for wildlife - related
opportunities" C.R.S. 33 -1 -101 (1). The CDOW Strategic Plan states "Healthy aquatic
environments are essential to maintain healthy and viable fisheries, and critical for self -
sustaining populations. The Division desires to protect and enhance the quality and quantity of
aquatic habitats."
The South Fork of the Smith Fork is approximately 5.9 miles long. It begins on the north side of
Bald Mountain at an elevation of approximately 10350 feet and terminates at the confluence with
the North Fork of the Smith Fork at an elevation of approximately 7580 feet. Of the 5.9 -mile
segment addressed by this report, approximately 92.4% of the segment, or 5.5 miles, is located
on public lands, while the remainder of the segment, 0.5 miles, is located on private lands. South
Fork of the Smith Fork is located within Gunnison County. The total drainage area of the river is
approximately 15.9 square miles. The South Fork of the Smith Fork generally flows in a
westerly direction.
The subject of this report is a segment of the South Fork of the Smith Fork beginning at its
headwaters and extending downstream to the North Fork of the Smith Fork. The proposed
segment is located east of the Town of Crawford. The staff has received one recommendation
for this segment from the CDOW. The recommendation for this segment is discussed below.
Instream Flow Recommendation(s)
The CDOW has recommended 6.4 cfs, summer, and 4.1 cfs, winter, based on their data
collection efforts (see Table 1 and Appendix A). The modeling results from this survey effort
are within the confidence interval produced by the R2CROSS model.
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