4-06CW231 Coal Creek Supplemental Data

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STATE OF COLORADO Bill Owens, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF WILDLIFE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Bruce McCloskey, Director 6060 Broadway Denver, Colorado 80216 Telephone: (303) 297 -1192 December 15, 2004 Mr. Dan Merriman and Mr. Todd Doherty Colorado Water Conservation Board Stream and Lake Protection Section 1313 Sherman Street, Room 723 Denver, Colorado 80203 Re: Colorado Division of Wildlife Instream Flow Recommendations for Coal Creek. Dear Dan and Todd, For Wildlife - For People The purpose of this letter is to officially transmit the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Instream Flow Recommendations for Coal Creek in Gunnison County. The reach of stream covered by this flow recommendation is from the confluence of Gunnison Creek to the confluence with Anthracite Creek, a distance of approximately 5 miles. In the fall of 1998, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW), with the assistance of staff from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), collected stream cross section information, natural environment data, and other data needed to quantify Instream Flow needs for the Coal Creek. Coal Creek is classified as a river (between 60 to 99 feet wide) and fishery surveys indicate the stream environment of Coal Creek supports a self- sustaining brown and rainbow trout fishery. Coal Creek also supports populations of Mottled sculpins, Speckled dace and Bluehead suckers. The stream cross section data was analyzed using the R2CROSS program. The R2CROSS output was evaluated using the methods described in Nehring (1979) and Espegren (1996). The CDOW has reviewed the data collected to date and based on that review recommends that the CWCB appropriated the following flow amounts to preserve the natural environment of the Coal Creek to a reasonable degree: • 39 cubic feet per second is recommended for April 1 through July 14. This flow is required to maintain the three principal hydraulic criteria of average depth, average velocity and percent wetted perimeter; • 21 cubic feet per second is recommended for July 15 through March 31. This flow is required to maintain two of the three principal hydraulic criteria of average depth, average velocity and percent wetted perimeter. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Russell George, Executive Director WILDLIFE COMMISSION, Philip James, Chair • Jeffrey Crawford, Vice -Chair • Brad Phelps, Secretary Members, Bernard Black • Tom Burke • Rick Enstrom • Claire 0' Neal • Robert Shoemaker • Ken Torres Ex Officio Members, Russell George and Don Ament