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:• Colorado River District ° <br /> 75 Years <br /> Protecting Western Colorado Water 2012 <br /> September 12,2012 <br /> Mr.John McClow,Chairman of the Board <br /> Colorado Water Conservation Board <br /> 1313 Sherman Street,Room 721 <br /> Denver,CO 80203 <br /> RE: SUPPORT FOR GRAND COUNTY WATER SUPPY RESERVE ACCOUNT GRANT TO <br /> BUILD GORE CANYON WHITEWATER PARK <br /> Dear Chairman McClow and Members of the Board: <br /> I am writing to indicate the River District's support of Grand County's request for a Water <br /> Supply Reserve Account grant request for $500,000 to build the Gore Canyon Whitewater Park on the <br /> Colorado River at Pumphouse. Grand County has committed over $600,000 to this non-consumptive <br /> water use project. For a small community in the Colorado headwaters, this represents considerable <br /> financial resources in the effort to provide additional infrastructure for a growing recreational economy. <br /> Constructing a"Park and Play"whitewater park on Bureau of Land Management in a developed <br /> recreational site is a good use of the state funds set aside by the Legislature for consumptive and non <br /> consumptive water projects. Great Outdoors Colorado funds are not eligible to be used to help fund the <br /> construction of this park because the project is in partnership with the BLM and is located on federal land. <br /> (GOCO doesn't fund projects on Federal land.) There is strong support for the project among members of <br /> the Colorado Basin Roundtable, local government, retail partners and boaters from across the state and <br /> throughout the west. For the last several years Grand County and the Colorado River District have been <br /> dedicated to working collaboratively with our east and west slope water stakeholders to solve a myriad <br /> historical water disputes. The Recreational In-Channel Diversion at Pumphouse is one small part of the <br /> Collaborative Agreement with Denver Water and the proposed agreement with the Northern Colorado <br /> Water Conservancy District and its Municipal Subdistrict. <br /> We respectfully urge the CWCB Board to award the full $100,000 request from the Colorado <br /> Basin Account and the full$400,000 request from the Statewide Account to Grand County for this project <br /> at your September 2012 meeting. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. <br /> Sincerely, <br /> Eric Kuhn <br /> General Manager,CRWCD <br /> 201 Centennial Street/ PO Box 1120 • Glenwood Springs, CO 81602 <br /> (970) 945-8522 • (970)945-8799 Fax <br /> www.ColoradoRiverDistrict.org <br />