BOARD01617

• Board Meeting Date: 5/19/2003
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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contract that would deliver 10,825 acre-feet of water per year through 2012 to benefit endangered fish
and critical habitat in the Colorado mainstem. A draft contract will be presented to the CWCB for
consideration and approval at the May meeting

Boat Chute Cases: On May 12,2003, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on the Vail and
Breckenridge boat chute applications. Decisions in these two cases, and the Golden boat chute case,
are expected before the end of2003.

Water Slideshow: The Colorado River Water Conservation District has produced an infonnational
slideshow about water development in the Colorado River Basin. You can review the show and
explore where and how much water is available in the Colorado River Basin for future development by
visiting http://www.crwcd.gov.

EA for Fish Passage and Screen Released: On April 7 Reclamation released the Final Environmental
Assessment (EA) for the endangered fish passage project at the Grand Valley Project Diversion Dam
and fish screen in the Government Highline Canal.

Fish passage at the Grand Valley Project Diversion Dam will restore access to critical habitat for the
razorback sucker and Colorado pikeminnow, two of four Colorado River endangered fish species. The
habitat provides deep, moving water and pools that are excellent feeding and wintering areas for the
razorback sucker and Colorado pikeminnow. The fish screen in the Government Highline Canal will
prevent fish, endangered and native, from entering the canal and being injured or killed in the canal
system.

Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program: The Forum's semi-annual meeting will be held in
Midway, UT on May 21 and the Forum's Work Group will meet prior to that on May 19 and 20.
New Forum members from Colorado, Mark Pifher and Kent Holsinger will be joining Rod Kuharich
and participating for the first time.

The Forum will be considering procedures and timing to bring new control project areas into the
program and there are several potential new areas in Colorado. The Forum will hear preliminary
reports from the subcornmittee examining the implications and advantages of getting the salinity
control program more closely involved with efforts to control selenium loading in the Basin. The
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will report on new procedures for the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and its significantly increased funding levels. New planning
studies to support new USDA salinity control projects in the Mancos, Rifle, Whitewater, DeBeque, and
Plateau Valley areas have been funded. In addition we have been working with the Colorado Soil
Conservation Board to provide enhanced technical assistance and accelerated program delivery in the
existing USDA salinity control areas in the Cortez, Montrose, Delta, and Grand Valley areas.

Holsinger replaces David Robbins, as one of Colorado's three Forum members. Many Board members
have known David for a long time and have come to appreciate his tremendous knowledge on
Colorado water matters and his gifted approach to bringing parties together to reach practical,
successful solutions. David utilized those same skills as a leader ofthe Colorado River Basin Salinity
Control Program, both as a Forum member for the last 25 years and prior to that as an attorney
defending against stateline water quality standards. David served a six-year tenn as Forum chainnan
and was scheduled to reassume that leadership role this year. He was widely respected by Forum
members from the other basin states. The Board will be asked to adopt a resolution thanking David for
his many years of expert service to the citizens of Colorado, and water users throughout the basin.

State of the River Meetings: On May 7 and 8 the Colorado River Water Conservation District held
two "State of the River Meetings" in Summit and Grand County. These meetings give the public an

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