BOARD01318

• Board Meeting Date: 9/13/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Federal and Interstate

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Ditch Bill Update: Kevin Riordan, Ditch Bill Easement Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Region of
the U.S. Forest Service, was recently promoted to Forest Supervisor of the Helena Nation Forest in
Helena, Montana. While we congratulate Kevin on his advancement and new assignment, we are sad to
see him leave as Ditch Bill Coordinator. Kevin was doing an excellent job of getting the Ditch Bill effort
off the ground in Colorado. Keeping the Ditch Bill momentum and consistency going on the seven
National Forests in Colorado will be a challenge for the Forest Service during this transition period.

The Forest Service has recognized the need to fill the vacancy left by Kevin to facilitate the completion of
Ditch Bill Easements as previously committed. In this effort, the Forest Service has named Marcia
Pfleiderer to serve on a temporary appointment as the Ditch Bill Easement Coordinator through
November. Marcia will be working out of the Walden, Colorado office on the Routt side of the Medicine
Bow-Routt National Forests. Marcia's regular job is a Wildlife Biologist on the forest. With the
importance of the issuance of Ditch Bill Easements in Colorado, hopefully the Forest Service will move
quickly to permanently fill this position.

The Forest Service is in the process of collecting and summarizing the year-end Ditch Bill
accomplishments from all forests in the Region and this information should be available in the near
future. Marcia noted that the Forest Service is making progress on Ditch Bill applications, and the
process is expected to run more smoothly after a consensus is reached between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service on "effects determinations." The Forest Service is working with the USFWS to gain consistency
in reporting on effects determinations Forest wide.

Marcia's contact information is:

Marcia L. Pfleiderer, Wildlife Biologist
Parks RD, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests
Phone: [phone]
Marcia L Pfleiderer/R2/USDAFS (INTRANET)
mufleidererlalfs.fed.us (intemet)

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Weather Modification Bill (HR) 2995: At the May CWCB meeting in Salida, CO the Board approved a
CWCB resolution supporting S 517, The Weather Modification Technology Transfer Act of2005,
introduced by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Copies of the CWCB resolution were sent to both
the local and D.C. offices for Colorado's congressional delegation. In late June, Representative Mark
Udall (D-Eldorado Springs) responded to the aforementioned CWCB resolution via letter to the CWCB
and introduced HR 2995. The Udall Bill (HR 2995) for Weather Modification Operations and Research,
is nearly identical to the Hutchison Bill (S. 517). His press release stated, "Udall proposes weather R&D
program to address drought concerns". At the July 2005 CWCB meeting in Silverthorne, Director
Kuharich discussed the Udall Bill and based on direction from the Board Members worked with staff to
draft a CWCB letter and resolution of support to send to Rep. Mark UdalL This was completed on August
9'h and a summary of all activities was shared with Dennis Ellis at the Governor's office. The CWCB
resolution in support of the Udall Bill was nearly identical to the one passed at the May CWCB meeting
for the Hutchison bilL The transmittal memo to Rep. Udall encouraged lawmakers to merge the two bills
(H.R. 2995 and S.5l7) to become one and also encouraged adequate state representation on the Weather
Modification Board. Both bills currently propose an II-member board made up of the at least one
representative from the following: American Meteorological Society, American Society of Civil
Engineers, National Academy of Sciences, National Center for Atmospheric Research, two NOAA
officials, higher education, and a state conducting weather modification operations.

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