San Juan River Workgroup Meeting Minutes Draft

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San Juan River Workgroup Meeting 7 Summary Oct. 28, 2010 draft- 5 pages NOTE:The Web site for the River Protection Workgroup, including the San Juan River Workgroup, is http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/riverprotection. Information: Facilitator Marsha-Porter Norton reviewed the purpose, principles and ground rules of the group for new attendees. Clarification on basin-wide discussion: Steve Fearn of the Southwestern Water Conservation District, a member of the River Protection Workgroup (RPW)Steering Committee, clarified the concept of the basin-wide discussion of water protections. He explained that there are five different sub-basins in the San Juan Basin, all involving different communities.A separate but similar workgroup process is planned for each.The Hermosa Creek Workgroup has finished its process, and all the key parties were able to come to consensus on a plan.A key component of that plan is a proposal for legislation to make part of the watershed a wilderness area, leave another portion un-roaded, and allow some of the watershed to remain open to mining and/or logging.The group produced a detailed report containing its recommendations. Steve said the expectation is that the San Juan River Workgroup will also produce a report, which may or may not recommend additional protections for the East and West Forks.Three other workgroups will go through similar processes, and in the end there will be five reports. Steve said there is a segment of the population that wants to see one more Wild and Scenic Rivers (WSR) segments designated in Southwest Colorado. He said Hermosa Creek is probably the most likely candidate for such designation.The water community has some concerns about the idea, but these concerns may be able to be mitigated through different measures. However, the proposed Hermosa Creek legislation does not address WSR status or water issues because it was agreed that it would be best to wait until all the workgroups have made their recommendations before deciding whether to propose Hermosa Creek as a WSR. Steve said one of the concerns is that a potential reservoir site has been identified in the upper Hermosa watershed, and before the water community agrees to let the site be abandoned under a WSR designation, they would like to have an "offset" to ensure that the people who would be served by that reservoir site could be served by another site somewhere else. Steve said whatever the San Juan Workgroup decides through its process, those recommendations will not be changed by anything occurring in the basin-wide discussion. Meghan Maloney of the San Juan Citizens Alliance (SJCA) said it's important to clarify that the basin-wide discussion will not be about only WSRs, but water protections in general. It was asked who will take part in the regional discussion. Marsha said the RPW Steering Committee will be involved with representatives from each workgroup as well. Marsha stated 1