BOARD00869

• Board Meeting Date: 1/25/2005
• Description: ISF Section - Instream Flow Appropriations - North Fork Smith Fork
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

STATE OF COLORADO

Bill Owens, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

DIVISION OF WilDLIFE

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

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

December 16, 2004

Mr. Dan Merriman and Mr. Todd Doherty
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Stream and Lake Protection Section
1313 Sherman Street, Room 723
Denver, Colorado 80203

Re: Colorado Division of Wildlife Instream Flow Recommendations for the North Fork of the Smith
Fork of the Gunnison River.

Dear Dan and Todd,

The purpose of this letter is to officially transmit the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Instream Flow
Recommendationsfor the North Fork of the Smith Fork in Gunnison County. The reach of stream covered
by this flow recommendation is from the headwaters of the North Fork to the confluence with the South
Fork of the Smith Fork, a distance of approximately 9.5 miles. This reach of stream is located east of the
Town of Crawford.

In the fall of 1998, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW), with the assistance of staff from the Colorado
Water Conservation Soard (CWCS), collected stream cross section information, natural environment data,
and other data needed to quantify Instream Flow needs for the North Fork of the Smith Fork of the
Gunnison River. The North Fork of the Smith Fork is classified as a medium stream (between 20 to 35 feet
wide) and fishery surveys indicate the stream environment of the North Fork supports a self-sustaining
brown and rainbow trout fishery.

The stream cross section data was analyzed using the R2CROSS program. The R2CROSS output was
evaluated using the methods described in Nehring (1979) and Espegren (1996)'. The CDOW has reviewed
the data collected to date and based on that review recommends that the CWCS appropriated the following
flow amounts to preserve the natural environment of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River to a reasonable
degree:

. 6.8 cubic feet per second is recommended for April 1 through October 15. This flow is required to
maintain the three principal hydraulic criteria of average depth, average velocity and percent wetted
perimeter;

. 3.5 cubic feet per second is recommended for October 16 through March 31. This flow is required
to maintain two of the three principal hydraulic criteria of average depth, average velocity and
percent wetted perimeter.

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Russell George, Executive Director
WilDLIFE COMMISSION, Philip James, Chair. Jeffrey Crawford, Vice.Chair. Brad Phelps, Secretary
Members, Bernard Black. Tom Burke. Rick Enstrom. Claire 0' Neal. Robert Shoemaker. Ken Torres
Ex Officio Members, Russell George and Don Ament