BOARD01130

• Board Meeting Date: 1/26/2000
• Description: ISF Section - Instream Flow Appropriations - Water Division 5
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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"Stream: East Fork Parachute Creek

SeQment: JQS & Golden Castle Gulches to Second Anvil Creek

Executive Summary

Upper Terminus: JQS & Golden Castle Gulch (Latitude: 390 35' 08") (Longitude: 107" 54' 55")
Lower Terminus: Second Anvil Creek at eLatitude 390 34' 05") eLongitude 107056' 52")
Counties: Garfield
Length: 2.2 Miles
USGS Quades): Anvil Points
Flow Recommendation: 1.9 cfs (April 15 - June 30)
0.6 cfs (July I - August 31)
0.2 cfs (September I - March 14)
0.4 cfs eMarch 15 - April 14)

Summary

The information contained in this report and the associated instream flow file folder for the East
Fork of Parachute Creek forms the basis for staff's instream flow recommendation to be
considered by the Board. It is staff's opinion that the information contained is this report is
sufficient to support the findings required in Rule 5.40.

Colorado's Instream Flow Program was created in 1973 when the Colorado State Legislature
recognized ''the need to correlate the activities of mankind with some reasonable preservation of
the natural environment" (see ~ 37-92-102 (3) C.R.S.). The statue vests the CWCB with the
exclusive to appropriate and acquire instream flow and natural lake-level water rights. In order
to encourage other entities to participate in Colorado's Instream Flow Program, the statue directs
the CWCB to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal agencies. The
Bureau of Land Management eBLM) recommended this segment of East Fork Parachute Creek
to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. East Fork Parachute Creek is being
considered for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program because it has a natural environment
that can be preserved to a reasonable degree with an instream flow water right. The BLM is
very interested in protecting the streamflows in this area because in November of 1997, the U.S.
Congress transferred management of the Navel Oil Shale Reserve from the Department of
Energy to the BLM. Congress directed the BLM to manage the area for multiple uses, while
simultaneously protecting the area's unique resource values.

East Fork Parachute Creek is a tributary of Parachute Creek and is approximately 12.3 miles
long. It begins West of the Roan Cliffs, at an elevation of approximately 8,600 feet, and
terminates at the confluence with the Middle Fork Parachute Creek, which combine to form
Parachute Creek near Rifle, at an elevation of approximately 5790 feet. It flows through federal
lands (the Naval Oil Shale Reserve which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management) and
private lands. It is located in Garfield County. The total drainage area of the East Fork of
Parachute Creek is approximately 44 square miles. East Fork of Parachute Creek generally flows
in an east to northwest direction.

The subject of this report is a 2.2 mile segment of the East Fork of Parachute Creek beginning at
the confluence of JQS and Golden Castle Gulches and extending downstream to the confluence
with Second Anvil Creek (see Figure 1). This segment is located northwest of the City of Rifle.