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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 fmdings 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 Colorado Division of Wildlife recommended this segment of La Plata Gulch to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. La Plata Gulch 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 CDOW is very interested in protecting stream flows because La Plata Gulch is a cutthroat trout fishery managed by CDOW. CDOW is of the opinion that La Plata Gulch is a good candidate stream for greenback cutthroat trout restoration due to the habitat quality and the existence of natural barriers to non-native invasion. La Plata Gulch is 3.1 miles long. It begins on the westem flank of La Plata Peak at an elevation of approximately 12,100 feet and terminates at the confluence with Lake Creek at an elevation of approximately 9,900 feet. The 2.9 miles of this segment is located on federal lands. La Plata Gulch is located within Chaffee and Lake Counties. The total drainage area of the creek is approximately 5.1 square miles. La Plata Gulch generally flows in a northern direction. The subject of this report is a segment of La Plata Gulch beginning at an unnamed lake and extending downstream to the existing confluence with Lake Creek (see Map). The proposed segment is located approximately 8 miles west of TWUl Lakes Reservoir. The staff has received only one recommendation for this segment, from the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The recommendation for this segment is discussed below. Instream Flow Recommendation(s) CDOW recommended 3.5 cfs, summer, and 2.8 cfs, wUlter, based on its August 1, 2000 data collection efforts (see Appendix A). The modeling results from this survey effort are within the confidence ulterval produced by the R2Cross model. land Status Review Total Length Land Ownership Upper Termums Lower Termums (miles) % Private % Public Unnamed Lake Lake Creek 3.1 6% 94% 94% of the reach is located on federal lands managed by the USFS. -2-