BOARD00190 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

DRAFT . Scope of Work: Colorado Instream Flow Needs Assessment Trout Unlimited, in partnership with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and Colorado Division of Wildlife (collectively, the "project partners") are developing a needs assessment for the Colorado instream flow program. The objectives of the project are to identify watersheds for instream flow protection, gather information on existing water use and socioeconomic factors for those watersheds, and offer alternative instream flow protection strategies. The project partners seek qualified consultants to assist with this program. We are seeking preliminary proposals, which can be for the project as a whole or for any of the four pieces of the project individually or in combination. Preliminary proposals should include a general outline of how the contractor would approach the work outlined below, information on the contractor's qualifications, and a preliminary budget estimate. Proposals should be sent to: Instream Flow Needs Assessment c/o Trout Unlimited 1966 ]3th Street, Suite LL 60 Boulder, CO 80302 The needs assessment has been divided into four pieces: . (1) Biological assessment The purpose is to identify streams, lakes, rivers, wetlands, and riparian zones of high biological significance. The contractor will use existing GIS databases and translate other existing data into a GIS format to produce a series of overlaying maps identifying locations with specific water- dependent values. These items will include: . Habitats for threatened, endangered, or sensitive species . Ecologically significant wetlands and riparian habitat . Streams with high recreational value (gold medal fisheries, etc.) . Other waters with unique freshwater ecological communities The occurrence of the target species/communities will be reviewed for the quality and significance of the resource to biodiversity, recreational use, and the local community. These data will be used, along with information from parts 2 and 3 of the study, to identify a limited number of high-priority watersheds for flow protection. (2) Hydrological assessment To assist in identifying target watersheds, the contractor will develop an inventory of flow- impaired streams with potential for restoration. To the maximum extent possible existing data should be used in defining this inventory. This information should be placed into a GIS format for use with the biological data in identifying priority watersheds. Once priority watersheds are determined, the contractor will gather and analyze additional information to more fully characterize those watersheds' hydrology. Again, existing data should be used to the maximum extent possible. Specific information that is needed includes: . . Develop hydrographs based on state or USGS gage data (or modeled if necessary) . Inventory of water rights . Inventory of existing structures and ,yater uses (including timing and extent of use) . Level of existing instream flow protection (CWCB, Reserved Rights. Wilderness, etc.) ?,,-,;~ ~ ...~ j "",' ,':\. -- : -:-/ "\..=';\<4 !