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<br />STATE OF COLORADO <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br /> <br />Department of N aturaI Resources <br />1313 Shennan Street, Room 721 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3441 <br />FAX, (303) 866.4474 <br />www.cwcb.state.co.us <br /> <br /> <br />Bill Owens <br />GovetTlor <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />Greg E. Walcher <br />Executive Director <br /> <br />To: <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board Members <br /> <br />Rod Kuharich <br />CWCB Director <br /> <br />From: <br /> <br />Randy Seaholm <br />Steve Miller <br /> <br />Dan McAuliffe <br />Deputy Director <br /> <br />Date: <br /> <br />November 14, 2003 <br /> <br />Re: November 19-21, 2003, CWCB Board Meeting <br />Agenda Item 10.a Water Supply Planning and Finance - Referred Non-Reimbursable Investments, <br />Tamarisk Coalition, Statewide Tamarisk Inventory <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />This request is for the Tamarisk Coalition to conduct an inventory and mapping of tamarisk-infested acres <br />in the Arkansas and Colorado River Basins, For FY 04-05, an appropriation of $52,500 is being <br />sought from the Construction Fund, Staff presented information on DNR's interest in this issue and an <br />introductory report prepared by the Tamarisk Coalition at the July 2003 Board meeting, The Finance <br />Committee then reviewed the request at its September meeting, but took no action, forwarding the matter <br />to the full Board for consideration at this meeting, It appears the Finance Committee had some concerns <br />about the extent of the inventory process being proposed and the value of the work to the overall DNR <br />tamarisk control effort, Tim Carlson, the Executive Director of the Tamarisk Coalition, is not available to <br />address the Board at this meeting, but staff will explain the proposal and attempt to answer any remaining <br />questions, We have also attached the full text of the Coalition's well throughout proposal for reference, <br /> <br />Discussion <br /> <br />The Tamarisk Coalition has requested, and CWCB staff is recommending approval of a non-reimbursable <br />allocation from the Construction Fund in the amount of $52,500, These funds will be used to pay half of <br />the cost of an on-the-ground field survey of riparian and upland areas currently infested by tamarisk, and <br />a related invasive phreatophyte - the Russian Olive, During its July 2003 meeting the Board concurred in <br />staff's recommendation that the CWCB's participation in tamarisk control efforts should focus on <br />inventorying infested acres, both to serve as a baseline when seeking federal funds and to use in <br />monitoring the impacts of various control programs, The Coalition believes that the cost of this study will <br />eventually be credited against the non-federal cost share requirements contained in pending federal <br />legislation, The Board's DSSs may also be useful in this process and we will compare the results of the <br />Tamarisk Coalition's fieldwork with remote sensing processes that we will attempt to implement with the <br />Colorado River DSS, and the irrigated acreage mapping presently being updated in the Arkansas Basin, <br /> <br />Flood Protection. Water Project Planning and Financing. Stream and Lake Protection <br />Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning <br />