Stream: Animas River (Lower Segement) Executive Summary

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Staff Analysis and Recommendation 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 5.40. 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 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recommended this segment of the Animas River to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. The Animas River 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 Animas River travels approximately 84.3 miles in Colorado. It begins on the eastside of Houghton Mountain . at an elevation of 12,000 feet and crosses the Colorado -New Mexico Stateline at an elevation of 5,930 feet. Of the 1.98 mile segment addressed by this report, approximately 50% of the segment is located on public lands. This segment of the Animas River is located within San Juan County and generally flows in a south to southwesterly direction. The subject of this report is a segment of the Animas River beginning at the confluence with Cunningham Creek and extending downstream to the confluence with Arrastra Creek. The proposed segment is located about 1.5 miles northeast of Silverton. The staff has received only one recommendation for this segment, from the BLM. The recommendation for this segment is discussed below. Instream Flow Recommendation The BLM is recommending 25.0 cfs (May 1 — October 31) and 13.0 cfs (November 1 — April 3 0) based on their data collection efforts and staff's water availability analyses. Land Status Review Upper Terminus Lower Terminus Total Length (miles) Land Ownership % Private % Public Confluence w/ Confluence w/ 2.58 75% 25% Minnie Gulch Cunningham Creek All of the public lands are managed by the BLM. -2-