BOARD01632

• Board Meeting Date: 9/13/2004
• Description: ISF Section - Proposed Water Right Acquisition - Elkhead Reservoir Enlargement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

September 2. 2004Page 4 of 16

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District also has entered into a Grant Agreement with Reclamation, attached hereto as
Exhibit B and incorporated herein; and an Agreement with Reclamation and the Service
Concerning Elkhead Reservoir Enlargement to Facilitate Recovery of Endangered Fish
Species in the Yampa River Basin ("Reservoir Enlargement Agreement"), attached
hereto as Exhibit C and incorporated herein. Reclamation and the Service intend to work
with the River District to perfect the conditional storage right for the Elkhead Reservoir
Enlargement so that the River District can convey the storage space easement and 5,000
acre-feet of the absolute water right for the Permanent Water Supply to CWCB in
perpetuity for Recovery Program purposes, including for piscatorial and recreational use
(including in-river fish habitat and river flow maintenance and enhancement uses; and
uses in furtherance of the Upper Colorado lOver Endangered Fish Recovery Program);
and

13. WHEREAS, the River District is willing to convey to the CWCB a 20/47th interest in
the River District's ownership of the storage capacity of the Elkhead Reservoir
Enlargement and in certain water rights owned by the River District decreed to fill the
Elkhead Reservoir Enlargement to provide the Permanent Water Supply, after those
water rights have been decreed absolute, in exchange for the Recovery Program paying
for 20/47ths of the costs of constructing the Reservoir Enlargement. The River District,
Reclamation and the Service shall be responsible for placing to beneficial use the water
subject to the conditional water storage right prior to conveying that water right to the
CWCB. Once the conditional water right has been placed to beneficial use, the River
District will file the necessary pleadings, and prosecute the case, to make the right
absolute. After the water storage right in the Reservoir Enlargement has been made
absolute, the River District intends to convey a 20/47th interest in the storage capacity
and the absolute water right to the CWCB for the Permanent Water Supply in perpetuity
for uses including in-river fish habitat and river flow maintenance and enhancement uses,
and uses in furtherance of the Upper Colorado River Basin Endangered Fishes Recovery
Program; the CWCB will hold and administer these rights for Recovery Program
purposes; and

14. WHEREAS, the Reservoir Enlargement Agreement, inter alia, addresses the Recovery
Program's long-term obligation to pay a pro-rata share of the River District's future
Reservoir Enlargement operation, maintenance and repair costs allocated to the CWCB's
Permanent Water Supply storage space easement; and

15. WHEREAS, the River District is willing to enter into a Short-Term (20 years) Water
Supply Lease with Reclamation and the Service for up to 2,000 acre-feet of water
annually to be used by the Recovery Program for the benefit ofthe endangered native
fish species in the Yampa River Basin, which agreement is attached hereto as Exhibit D
and incorporated herein, ; and

16. WHEREAS, Reclamation and the Service, on behalf of the Recovery Program, are
willing to make the Short-Term Water Supply water available for use by the CWCB to

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