Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />letter from Greg Walcher Executive Director, dated August 2002, reaffirmed that agreement and directed <br />the CWCB to conduct hearings and make initial recommendations to the Executive Director's Office for <br />final approval. The CWCB acts as the state level regulator of programs, issues permits and monitors them <br />for compliance with program rules and regulations and state statutes based on: the 1951 Weather <br />Modification Act, the 1972 Weather Modification Act, HB 92-1018, HB 92-1129, and SB 96-90. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />State fees collected for wintertime weather modification in operational year 2002-2003 <br />Target Area Program operator Project Sponsors Base Contract State fees <br /> 2002-03 collected 02-03 <br />Upper San Miguel Western Weather Telluride Ski and Golf Co" San Juan $46,868,83 $937.37 <br />Telluride areas . Consultants WCD, Southwestern WCD <br />VaillBeavcr Creek Ski Western W cather Vail and Beaver Creek Resorts $163,735,11 $3,274,70 <br />areas Consultants <br />Central Colorado Western W cather Denver Water, Upper Arkansas DW $700,000 $2,000 <br />Mountains Consultants WCD, Southeastern Colorado WCD UAWCD $142,157 $2,843 <br />San Juan Mountains Western W cather Purgatory Ski Resort, San Juan $111,011 $2,220.23 <br /> Consultants WCD, Southwestern WCD <br />Grand Mesa Area Pete Kasper, consultant Grand Mesa Water and Power N/A N/A <br /> meteorologist Authority <br />Gunnison County North American Weather Gunnison County, Crested Butte, $80,000 $1600 <br /> Consultants a~icultura1 users <br /> APPROXIMATE TOTALS $1.2 million $12,000 <br /> <br />Current permits - 14 total permits for Winter seeding: Colorado's Central Rocky Mountains, Vail <br />Beaver Creek Ski Areas, Tellmide Ski Area and Upper San Miguel <br />Basin, Western and Eastern San Juan Mountains, the Grand Mesa <br />areas and most of Gunnison County. AND Hail suppression: <br />Eastern Cheyenne County, East of Ault, Brighton, Fort Lupton, <br />South of Brush, Near Gilcrest, and the San Luis Valley, <br /> <br />Benefits: Approximately 70% Of Colorado's water is supplied by <br />snow melt runoff, The primary benefit of cloud seeding is <br />economic but can also have multiple benefits to fish and wildlife, <br />fishing, hydroelectric power, agriculture, water supplies, salinity <br />reduction, ski industries and water based recreation and possibly <br />forest fire danger reduction through wetter conditions, <br /> <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Dillon Reservoir summer 2002 <br /> <br />The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: A 2003 BOR report The Feasibility of Operational Cloud Seeding in <br />the North Platte River Basin Headwaters to Increase Mountain Snowfall states "Several options are under <br />consideration to provide additional water including reservoir management. Cloud seeding technology <br />improvements in the past 20 years now provide logistically feasible and cost-effective option to enhance <br />fresh water resomces in some mountain watershed of the western United States......, Regarding the <br />scientific support cloud seeding, current policy statements of the American Meteorological Society and <br />the World Meteorological Organization state that statistical analyses of some cloud seeding programs <br />have suggested mountain snowfall increase of 10 to 15% per winter. Cloud seeding experiments <br />conducted and/or supported by the Bmeau of Reclamation in the I 980-90s have contributed sorely needed <br />physical measurements and analyses that documented cloud and precipitation responses to cloud seeding <br />and indicated that specific areas can be targeted for treatment effects, These studies along with the <br />substantial improvement in computer modeling of weather and clouds provide methodology that can be <br />applied to seeding winter clouds in Colorado and expect to obtain measmable additional precipitation, . <br />(Johnnie G. Medina, BOR River Systems and Meteorology) <br /> <br />6 <br />