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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 5.40. 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 La Garita Creek to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. La Garita 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 BLM is very interested in protecting stream flows because BLM has acquired a significant amount of land along the creek. La Garita Creek is 24.0 miles long and terminates on the floor on the San Luis Valley. It begins on the southeastern flank of Bowers Peak at an elevation of approximately 11,600 feet and terminates on the floor of the San Luis Valley at an elevation of approximately 7,800 feet. Of the 2.0 mile segment addressed by this report, approximately 50% of the segment, or 1.0 miles, is located on federal lands, while the remainder of the segment, 1.0 miles, is located on private lands. The creek is located within Saguache County. The total drainage area of the creek is approximately 61 square miles. La Garita Creek generally flows in a southeasterly direction. The subject of this report is a segment of La Garita Creek beginning at Sentry Box Dam site (a conditional water right) and extending downstream to the headgate of Biedell Ditch No. 10. The CWCB already holds a 5.0 cfs instream flow water right on La Garita Creek from the headwaters down to the Sentry Box Dam Site (Case No. 3-76W3645). The proposed segment is located north of Del Norte. The staff has received only one recommendation for this segment, from the Bureau of Land Management. The recommendation for this segment is discussed below. Instream Flow Recommendation(s) BLM recommended 3.5 cfs (May 1 through October 31) and 2.1 cfs (November 1 st though April 30th) based on its data collection efforts (see Appendix A). The modeling results from these survey efforts are within the confidence interval produced by the R2Cross model. Land Status Review Total Length Land Ownership Upper Terminus Lower Terminus (miles) % Private % Public Sentry Box Dam Biedell Ditch #10 2.0 50% 50% Approximately 50% of the reach is located on federal lands managed by the BLM the other 50% is private land. - 2 -