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<br />Wildfires <br />There was no report on wildfires at this meeting. <br /> <br />Mike Gillespie, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) <br />Mr. Gillespie said that in January we had a 92% of average snowpack statewide, but in February <br />it has gone down to 88% of average statewide and 124% of last year which is better than a year <br />ago. He said there has been a big improvement in the Rio Grande Basin, and slight <br />improvement in the San Juan and the southwest with a slight decline overall. Mr. Gillespie <br />mentioned that we have had seven years now of below average snowpack on Feb. 1; however, <br />our snowpack is better than last year and better than 1997 and 2002. The South Platte is still <br />below average at 69% of average, and we still have a deficit of 2.14. He said this month does <br />not look for a good improvement, and February is projected to be 85% of average. <br /> <br />Mr. Gillespie reported that our reservoir storage is at 76% of average. He said the southern <br />basins have little to no improvement from last year and are beginning to feel the effects. The <br />Arkansas is in the worse shape while Dolores and the Rio Grande are still very low. <br /> <br />Mr. Gillespie stated the SWSI shows that for Feb 1 the South Platte and Arkansas basins are low, <br />but the Colorado Basin is the lowest while others are in a moderate drought to typical average <br />conditions across the state. He also said that the NRCS was using a new SWSI which is different <br />than the traditional SWSI because it is based on current reservoir storage with a projection for <br />runoff based on the streamflow forecast. <br /> <br />Mr. Gillespie reported the streamflows for February 1 showed the South Platte the lowest in the <br />state, at less than 50% of average, compared to others at 70-89% of average across most of the <br />state. He said the best conditions continued in the San Juan and Rio Grande Basins and portions <br />of the Gunnison River that flows from the Grand Mesa. <br /> <br />Don West. Division of Water Resources, Water Supplv Conditions Update <br />Mr. West gave a review of the conditions update for February. He said he would concentrate <br />mainly on the stream flows because the SWSI values had been previously mentioned. He stated <br />that the January flow for the South Platte was near a 30-year historic lownwell below average. <br />The Arkansas accumulative flow is lower than the dry year of 2002; however, they have a higher <br />snowpack this year compared to the dry year and should be hopefully ok. The Rio Grande <br />accumulative flow is lower and a bit below the dry year for the snowpack but higher than 2002 <br />flows. Mr. West said that again the spring runoffs should pick up past the dry averages. The <br />Padre River in the Gunnison Basin had stream flows below average but above the 1977 dry year. <br />The Colorado Basin rivers flow is a bit below average for this time of the year. The Yampa <br />River, in the Yampa White Basin, flows are between the dry year and average snowpack year <br />which is nonnal. The San Juan and Dolores Basin show the accumulative flow for the Animas <br />River slightly above the dry year, and that the February 1st snowpack is a little above average. <br /> <br />---The following is a brief water supply conditions update. (A complete supply update was <br />distributed at the meeting and appears on the cwcb webpage as welL) nnnn <br />