4-06CW231 Coal Creek Supplemental Data

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Summary The information contained in this report and the associated instream flow file folder forms the basis for staff's 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 Coal Creek to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. Coal Creek 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" (see 33 -1 -101 (1) C.R.S.). The CDOW Strategic Plan also states "Healthy 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." Coal Creek is approximately 16.3 miles long. It begins at the base of Mount Guero at an elevation of approximately 10,500 feet and terminates at the confluence with Anthracite Creek at an elevation of approximately 6420 feet. Of the 4.8 -mile segment addressed by this report, approximately 96% of the segment, or 4.6 miles, is located on public lands, while the remainder of the segment, 0.2 miles, is located on private lands. Coal Creek is located within Gunnison County. The total drainage area of the river is approximately 101 square miles. Coal Creek generally flows in a northerly direction. The subject of this report is a segment of Coal Creek beginning at Little Gunnison Creek and extending downstream to Anthracite Creek. The proposed segment is located west of the Town of Paonia. 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 39 cfs, summer, and 21 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.