BOARD00486

• Board Meeting Date: 5/21/2001
• Description: ISF Section - Water Conservancy of Colorado - Staff Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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CONCEPT SUMMARY FOR THE WATER CONSJ$RV ANCY OF COLORADO

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Working Draft: February 20,2001

Water is among Colorado's most precious resources. :As the state has grown, new demands for
water have been met by the stale's flexible, market-based water rights system. There is
increasing interest in ensuring thai sufficient water is available to protect Colorado's rich natural
heritage and environmental diversity. Although the state embarked upon a public instream flow
program in 1973, much remains to be done by the pu~lic, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Groups like The Nature Conservancy have been pion4ering ways to acquire land and water rights
on a vohmtary basis for their conservation values, usi~g fee title purchases as weIl as
conservation easements, and working with the Colorado Water Conservation Board on the
protection of in stream flows. Local land trusts, suppcirted by the Colorado Coalition of Land
Trusls, also have been acquiring land and water rights or interests therein for their conservation
benefits-often in connection with maintaining agricultural uses of land for their open space and
habitat values. Ducks Unlimited works to protect an4 expand the water-dependent habitat
required by waterfowl. .

Others like the Colorado Water Conservation Board, ,Trout Unlimited, and local watershed
initialives are primarily focused on enhancing or protecting instream flows for environmental
values. The CWCB is the only enlity authorized under Colorado law to hold non-diversionary
instream flow water rights. In addition to its stream and lake appropriations, the CWCB has
received several donations of existing water rights to;be managed for instream flow use. Local .
watershed initiatives tend to be interested in restoring the health of their streams for enhanced
community benefits. Trout Unlimited disseminales information to others about using voluntary
transactions to conserve, protect, and restore healthy!stream flows and habitat.

In short, a growing number of interests are pursuing ways to ensure that some portion of
Colorado's appropriated water can be made available on a voluntary basis under existing water
and property laws for conservation uses. Despite their common objectives these interests have
been operating largely or entirely independent of on~ another. In October 2000, representatives
of some of these interests started to discuss ways in which their efforts could be better
coordinated or integrated. A proposal has emerged from these discussions to establish a tax-
exempt, nonprofit organization that wOllld seek to provide technical assistance and funding
needed on a statewide basis to establish conservatiott water rights.

The proposed mission statement for this organization is as follows: The Water Conservancy of
Colorado (WCC) is a private, nonprofit conservatiQn organization, founded in 2001, to
acquire, or assist others in acquiring water rights ilr interests in water rights, using market-
based approaches, from willing sellers, for conserl,ation benefits (hereafter "to establish
conservation water rights". i

Conservation benefits are defined to include the long-term restoration and protection of
Colorado's water-dependent natural heritage and eqvironmental diversity, the maintenance of
ecologicaIly beneficial open space and habitat provided by irrigated agriculture, and the .
protection of related water-based recreation and aes'thetics. Conservation benefits will be sought

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