BOARD00701

• Board Meeting Date: 7/26/2006
• Description: WSP Section - Platte River Endangered Species Program
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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WHEREAS, the State of Colorado is signatory to the South Platte River Compact, C.R.S.
Section 37-65-101, et seq., executed on behalf of the State on the 27th day of April, 1923.
The South Platte River Compact divides and apportions the water of the South Platte
River between the State of Colorado and the State of Nebraska.

WHEREAS, the State of Colorado is subject to a decree of the United States Supreme
Court regarding the use of the waters of the North Platte River. Nebraska v. Wyoming,
325 U.S. 589, 65 S.C!. 1332,89 L.Ed. 1815 (1945) as amended or as it may be amended.

WHEREAS, the South Platte River Compact and the decree in Nebraska v. Wyoming
limit the use of the waters of the South Platte and North Platte Rivers within the State of
Colorado.

WHEREAS, the State of Nebraska, in the case of the South Platte River, and the States of
Wyoming and Nebraska, in the case ofthe North Platte River, are entitled to use such
waters of the South and North Platte Rivers, respectively, which flow out of the State of
Colorado in accordance with the requirements of the South Platte River Compact and the
decree in Nebraska v. Wyoming.

WHEREAS, all water which is not required to flow out of Colorado under the South
Platte River Compact and the decree in Nebraska v. Wyoming is available for diversion
and beneficial use within the State of Colorado.

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WHEREAS, the State of Colorado is signatory to the 1922 Colorado River Compact and
the 1948 Upper Colorado River Compact under which Colorado may use such waters
within the State of Colorado pursuant to Colorado Water Law. By law, water users have
the right and obligation to use, reuse, and successively use to extinction water imported
from the Colorado River into other river basins within the State of Colorado.

WHEREAS, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("U.S.F.W.S.") has listed the
whooping crane, piping plover, least tern, and pallid sturgeon under the federal
Endangered Species Act, and has designated critical habitat for the whooping crane
pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. These species, and the designated critical
habitat, are located in the Central Platte Region ofthe State of Nebraska.

WHEREAS, the State of Colorado is a signatory to a Cooperative Agreement between
the States of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, and the United States Department of the
Interior for the purpose of developing a program to protect and improve habitat for the
endangered and threatened species, originally executed on July 1,1997, and which was
extended twice and which expires on October 1,2006.

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