BOARD01101

• Board Meeting Date: 7/23/2001
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

e

e

e

. A Biological Assessment on the implementation plan will be developed and submitted to U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service by August 31, 200 I with a request to initiate the programmatic Section
7 consultation.

. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will issue the Yampa Basin programmatic biological opinion
(PBO) by January IS, 2002, The opinion will provide ESA compliance, including incidental take
coverage, for all existing depletions, as well as 50,000 AF per year of new depletions in two
blocks: 30,000 AF per year which is anticipated to meet needs in the Yampa Basin through 2045,
and an additional 20,000 AF per year to meet needs beyond 2045, The PBO will include a major
review of the status of the fish (if still listed) and Program implementation when the initial
30,000 AF year block is used.

. A 404-permit application will be filed for expansion of Elkhead Reservoir to provide 3,700 AF
per year of designated storage for endangered fish and approximately 4,300 AF per year for
future human needs, The Colorado Water Conservation Board and Colorado River Water
Conservation District will file the application by August 15,2001. This will trigger the formal
process of developing an environmental impact statement and securing all federal, state, and
local permits needed for expansion of Elkhead Reservoir. The NEP A process is expected to be
completed in 2004, along with all necessary institutional and financial arrangements needed for
Elkhead Reservoir design and construction,

. Elkhead design and construction should be initiated in 2004 with an estimated completion date of
approximately 2007.

The action by the Recovery Program Management Committee ratifies the consensus agreement reached
among Yampa Basin interests and Recovery Program participants in August 2000. There is now a clear
course of action for implementation of the Recovery Program in the Yampa Basin, provision of ESA
compliance for existing and future water depletions in the basin, and expansion ofElkhead Reservoir to
benefit endangered fish and to meet future human needs in the basin.

Agency

Personnel Update: Our Budget Director, Don Wood, is leaving to work for the Division of Wildlife.

Weare still trying to hire a Board Coordinator after the person we hired failed to appear for work
because she took another job.

We expect the vacant Office of Water Conservation Director position to be announced shortly,

Imaging Project: We are implementing our imaging project. This project involves inventorying,
indexing and prepping millions of documents, and scanning the documents to create an electronic image,
The first files to be imaged will include over 3000 instream flow and natural lake case files, Staff has
hired 6 temporary employees to assist in this effort and expects to complete imaging of the instream
flow and natural lake files by the end of August. Once imaged, these decrees will be accessible to staff
and the public via the internet.

###

15