CWCB San Miguel PHS Final - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

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 Colorado Water Conservation Board (Board). It is the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) staff s opinion that the information contained in this report is sufficient to support the findings required in Rule 5(i). The State of Colorado's Instream Flow Program (ISFP) 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 Board 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 ISFP, the statute directs the Board to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal agencies. The CDOW & BLM are jointly recommending this segment of San Miguel River to the Board for inclusion into the ISFP. The San Miguel River is being considered for inclusion into the ISFP 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 instream flow recommendation to the Board to meet 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" (See §33 -1 -101 (1) C.R.S.). The CDOW Strategic Plan states "[h]ealthy aquatic environments are essential to maintain healthy and viable fisheries, and critical for self - sustaining populations. The [CDOW] desires to protect and enhance the quality and quantity of aquatic habitats." The Bureau of Land Management is forwarding this instream flow recommendation to the Board because it is strongly interested in instream flow protection for the lower San Miguel River for multiple reasons. First, this portion of the river is known to provide habitat for flannelmouth sucker, bluehead sucker, and roundtail chub. The BLM, CDOW and others have signed a multi- state conservation agreement designed to protect and enhance habitat for these species, with the objective of preventing a listing of these species under the Endangered Species Act (see Appendix A). Establishment of instream flow protection for streams known to provide habitat for the species is identified as a priority conservation action under this agreement. Second, the lower San Miguel River is known to provide habitat for globally imperiled riparian communities and other important riparian communities, because of the free - flowing hydrology of the river. These globally impaired communities include New Mexico Privet riparian shrubland and Skunkbrush riparian shrubland. Other important riparian communities include Narrowleaf Cottonwood Communities and Fremont Cottonwood communities. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program has identified two potential conservation areas along this reach of the river because of these riparian communities and species (see Appendix B). Finally, BLM seeks to protect flows that support reclaimed acreage from the Umetco Superfund site. The reclamation effort is now complete, and the flows assist in maintaining the ecology of land parcels that were donated by Umetco as part of the Superfund settlement. 3