BOARD00223

• Board Meeting Date: 9/13/2004
• Description: ISF Section - Proposed Water Right Donation - Colorado Water Trust, Peabody #1 Ditch and Lund Enlargement, Boulder Creek and Blue River
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Bill Owens, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

DIVISION OF WilDLIFE

AN EaUAl OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Bruce McCloskey, Acting Director
6060 Broadway
Denver, Colorado 80216
Telephone: [phone]

20 April 2004

Dan Merriman
Anne Janicki
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Stream and Lake Protection Section
1313 Shennan Street, Snite 721
Denver, CO 80203

SUBJ: mow Opinions Regarding Acqnisition of Water for Enhancement ofInstream Flows on Boulder Creek and the
Blue River

Dear Dan and Anne:

The purpose of this letter is to provide the Colorado Water Conservation Board statTwith the Colorado Division of Wildlife's
opinions regarding the potential acquisition of water rights to maintain, enblInce, and/or improve instream flow conditions on
Boulder Creek and the Blue River in Summit County in Water Division 5. The proposed acqnisition is being facilitated by
the Colorado Water Trust.

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BACKGROUND

Boulder Creek

In 1977, the ewCB appropriated instream flow water rights for Boulder Creek. The Boulder Creek instream flow water right
protects 6.0 miles of stream from the headwaters to the confluence with the Blue River; the water right is for 6 cfs (May I
through September 30) and 3 cfs (October I through April 30) and carries an appropriation date of January 19, 1977. From
my review of the files, it appears that the CDOW was the only agency that provided data and flow reconnnendations to the
CWCB. The field data for this appropriation was collected by CDOW perscmnel on August 19, 1975 where standard
R2CROSS was collected and the stream fIShery was sampled by electrotishing. The measured flow at the time of the
R2CROSS survey was 18.6 cfs; the data was collected at a point 1.75 miles above state highway 9. The stream fishery was
found to be a 100% self sustaining brook trout fishery.

mow utilized the best available technology at the time to develop instream flow reconnnendations from the above described
field data. The technology of the day in 1977 Was the R2CROSS program that operated on a mainframe computer at
Colorado State University utilizing the FORTRAN computer language. The output from the R2CROSS was tabulated by
hand and then analyzed by mow personnel; the resnlls of this analysis was then forwarded to the CWCB for their
consideration. My review of the infonnation in my files indicates that the CDOW's initial instream flow recommendation was
for 6 cfs year-round. It appears that the flow recommendation was adjusted after consultations with water users and/or the
Division of Water Resources to reflect possible water availability issues thus the seasonal split in flow amounts in the water
right appropriation.

Blue River

In 1986 CWCB and CDOW initiated field investigations to quantify instream flow needs in the Blue River from Dillon Dam
downstream to Green Mountain Reservoir and also in the segment from Green Mountain Dam to the confluence with the
Colorado River. R2CROSS data was collected at four sites on the Blue River; this data was supplemented with Instream

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Russell George, Executive Director
WILDLIFE COMMISSION, Philip James, Chair. Jeffrey Crawford, Vice-Chair. Brad Phelps, Sea'elary
Members, Bernard Black. Tom Bur1<e . Rick Enstrom . Claire O'Neal. Robert Shoemaker. Ken Torres
Ex Officio Members, Russell George and Don Ament