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Nevv challenges exert a pull on Duane Helton to joi n the team Editor's note: In the last two issues, we introduced David Robbins, the legal mem- ber of the original in stream flow team and Eddie Kochman, the biologist of that team. In this issue, we are proud to intro- duce the Jastofthe three, the team's engi- neer Duane Helton. Duane Helton joined the CWCB in 1969, where he was responsible for numerous water resource projects, especially in the Arkansas River basin. Shortly after the passage ofISF statute in 1973, he was assigned a new challenge. With the support and encouragement of then CWCB Director Felix Sparks, Helton, along with Attorney David Robbins and Biologist Eddie Kochman, began the chal- lenging task of preparing instream flow recommendations. "I began working with Eddie Kochman very quickly," Helton says. And adds, "I and other CWCB staff members often par- ticipated in field data collections." Helton has stories to tell of their data collection adventures, including one in which an employee appeared to have a near-death experience during fish sampling. "He had to be rushed to a local hospital in the Roaring Fork Valley," Helton softly points out. Perhaps melancholic, Helton recalls these memories as if they happened yes- terday. Helton recollects that some of the first few instream flow appropriations were made in the Roaring Fork and the Gunnison watersheds. He also recalls that, in fact, before the CWCB filed for its first right in the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project collection area, the City of Aspen and Pitkin County filed for an instream flow water right nam- ing the CWCB as an inadvertent applicant. However, the application was later dis- missed by the Water Court," Helton notes. An ISF appropriation, as Helton recalls, began with the CWCB and DOW identifY- ing several streams for potential consider- ation. The DOW would then visit the streams and collect biological data. Ini- tially, the DOW staff would apply the "Montana Method," which was based on a percentage of the annual streamflows (30 percent of average annual for reason- able/optimum flow and 10 percent for survival flow). Later the DOW would make specific flow measurements, using what was known as the "Sag-tape Method." Finally, based on one or a com- bination of these methods, the DOW would send its instream flow recommen- dations to the CWCB. Helton and his staff at the CWCB would evaluate these recom- mendations for accuracy and reasonable- ness. Helton would then send the recommendations to the Colorado Divi- sion of Parks and Recreation for approval, as was then required by law, before taking them to CWCB for ratification. In the meantime, Helton would meet with other water users to resolve any outstanding issues with regard to water rights adminis- tration and/or future water development in the respective streams. "The ISF Program gradually became less controversial, as water users became more educated about, or perhaps 'resigned to' the program, and our analyses got better," Helton says. By the time Helton left the CWCB in July 1980, the CWCB and DOW had established a systematic approach to ISF quantification and appropriation that produced less conflict with other water users. After leaving the CWCB in 1980, Helton joined Woodward-Clyde Consultants. Two years later, he left Woodward-Clyde and began working for Tipton and Kalm- bach, Inc. where he managed water right and water resources projects. In 1993, he and his long-time friend and coworker of 18 years, Tom Williamsen, formed the 3 firm of Helton & Williamsen, P.c., special- izing in water supply and water resource planning and water rights. The firm's clients include irrigators, municipalities, water conservation and conservancy dis- tricts, and state and federal agencies. "Our clients are very special to us. Some of them have been clients since 1980, moving with us from Woodward-Clyde to Tipton and Kalmbach, and from Tipton and Kalmbach to Helton & Williamsen," Hel- ton says. Helton was born and raised in Denver. He and his wife Brenda now live on 160 acres south of Kiowa. The Heltons enjoy their place of23 years where they raise cattle, hay, and trees in their spare time. They have three children: older son, Brad, is a Captain in the Army in the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood; younger son, Phil, is an electronics technician in the fiberop- tics industry in Baltimore. Their daughter, Emily, is a freshman at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. Helton received his Bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University in 1964 and his Masters degree, also in civil engineering, from the University of Colorado in 1972. He pursued his Masters degree while working at the CWCB. Helton's hobbies include fishing. He longs for the fishing trips he used to make with his old buddy Eddie Kochman (featured in the last issue)..