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. . . The farmland at issue uses water provided by the Newlands Project from the Truckee and Carson Rivers in Western Nevada. Under the Alpine and Orr Ditch decrees, homestead lands within the Project were classified as either "bench" or "bottom" lands, which by definition had differing drainage rates, that were entitled to 4,5 af/year and 3.5 af/year respectively, The decrees did not outline how to apply the two classifications, In 1986, the Department oflnterior (DOl) created and later adopted a classification scheme based on specific soil characteristics, The Truckee Carson Irrigation District (TCID), representing Project landowners challenged DOl's scheme in court, offering an alternative classification based primarily on past allocations, Seeking Support for Weather Modification: On Mar, 1-2 CWCB staff member Joe Busto joined Arlen Huggins of the Desert Research Institute and Darin Langerud of the North Dakota Atmospheric Resources Board on a trip to Washington D,C. to meet with Congressional delegations representatives from North Dakota, Nevada and Colorado to seek funding for the Weather Modification Damage Program (WMDP) to be added to the NOAA budget. All three are members of the North American Interstate Weather Modification Council. Council members also met with Michael Uhart, Executive Director of the NOAA Science Advisory Board about the potential for this program to be housed permanently within NOAA. Funding for the WDMP was $2 million in FY 2002 and FY 2003, but there is no FY 2004 funding. Statewide Owens Appoints New Members: Gov, Bill Owens has appointed Thomas R, Sharp of Steamboat Springs, John D. Redifer of Grand Junction and Barbara Biggs of Denver to the Board, Thomas Sharp is an attorney with Sharp, Steinke & Shemlan, LLC, Sharp has served on the board of the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District since 1977 and the Colorado River Water Conservation District since 2001, John Redifer is a professor with Mesa State College, Redifer is a member of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce and Club 20, He is also vice president of the Tamarisk Coalition, Barbara Biggs has twelve years of experience in water quality issues and is currently responsible for inter-governmental relations for the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District. She is vice- chair of the Colorado Water and Wastewater Facility Operator Certification Board, Biggs is also a member ofthe Colorado Water Quality Forum, Legislative Update: A spreadsheet highlighting the current status oflegislation we have been following will be handed out at our meeting, New Deputy AG: Steve Black will be the new Deputy Attorney General for Natural Resources and Environment. Steve graduated from Boalt Hall Law School and California State University, has taught high school in Boulder and Zimbabwe, and authored numerous publications. Steve is a partner at Holland and Hart and has worked there since 1990, Steve is a trial lawyer speci:l1izing in complex environmental and natural resource issues, Steve will start March 1, Water Availability Task Force Meeting: The Water Availability Task Force met on Feb, 23 to discuss current drought conditions, The Task Force members reported that statewide snowpack was hovering around 90 percent of average statewide, The members relayed concern over the South Platte basin where snow pack is at 69 percent of average and stream flows are running 50 percent of average, The members expressed much more optimism for the southwestern portions of the state where snow pack is running slightly above average (Rio Grande 108 percent, San Juan 105 percent), The Task Force will next meet on April 13 to discuss the April 1 snow pack figures and forecasts for this spring and summer. 7