BOARD00936

• Board Meeting Date: 1/25/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

PRID representatives had several objections to the draft contract. They argued their original contract and
their water rights decree already allows non-irrigation uses and that therefore, the discussion should be
about the amount of surcharge Reclamation wants for those uses. They also objected to the 40-year term
in the draft contract because they believe they are entitled to at least a 60-year term.

Leasing water to a third party requires agency approval because Reclamation interprets the authorization
for the Pine River Project as allowing water to be used only for irrigation.

Until now, PRill's role has been that of water supplier for agriculture in Southeast La Plata County.
Residents get drinking water from wells or haul potable water from town.
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But since irrigation district shareholders last fall voted down a proposal to lease water to an independent
drinking-water district, PRID officials have been looking for other ways to acquire water. They've filed
for water rights on three area rivers as well as a re-examination of their contract with the govemment.

The potable-water task force, which wants to lease 2,000 acre-feet of water a year, has pushed ahead. A
plan to provide drinking water in a district that encompasses an area from Grandview to Gem Village and
from north of U.S. Highway 160 to the New Mexico line, could be voted on next year. The district would
not include Ignacio or Bayfield. But no reliable source of water has been found.

The next meeting on the contract was set for Feb. 3.

Millard Takes Reigns At MVI: The board of the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company has replaced
MYI President Logan Gafford with former Vice President Dudley Millard.

The board has also voted to withdraw a request to Reclamation to store non-project water in McPhee
Reservoir if and when Groundhog Reservoir needs to be drained again.

Reclamation has said that any such storage agreement involving Groundhog would require a carriage
contract. He also mentioned that a similar storage deal was reached between Reclamation and the Dolores
Water Conservancy District, but it took approximately three years to complete.

San Juan Public Lands -"Plan for the Future:" The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) will start ajoint long-term planning effort in January 2005. The San Juan
Public Lands Center will be the first to conduct a joint USFS and BLM long-range plan. In southwestern
Colorado, the two federal agencies work together to jointly manage San Juan Public Lands, some 2.5
million acres of National Forest and BLM lands.

The long-term management plans of both agencies are due for revision. This joint planning process will
produce plans to guide management of these public lands for the next 10 to 15 years. A Notice of Intent
to begin the joint planning revision was filed in the Federal Register on December 14,2004. Public input
on the scope ofthe issues to be considered will be accepted for 60 days from that date.

The current San Juan National Forest Plan was completed in 1983 and has been amended 21 times. A
public involvement process began in 1996 and 1997 in anticipation of revising the Forest Plan, but was
put on hold by the 1998 Appropriations Act, and later delayed by budget shortcomings. The current BLM
San Juan Resource Area Management Plan was completed in 1985 and has been amended four times
since then.

The joint planning effort will begin with the formation of Community Study Groups. The Community
Study Groups will meet in the evenings on a monthly basis for about seven months to leam about the
natural resources and public uses on San Juan Public Lands and make suggestions for management. The .
Office of Community Services out of Fort Lewis College will facilitate these meetings. Currently Study
Group meetings are planned for Cortez (January 20), Durango (January 25), and Pagosa Springs (January
27). The times and locations are to be announced.

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