BOARD01781

• Board Meeting Date: 11/20/2000
• Description: WSP Section - Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone, [phone]
FAX, [phone]
www.cwcb.state.CO.llS

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Bill Owens
Governor

MEMORANDUM

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

To:

Dan McAuliffe
Colorado Water Conservation Board Acting Director

Rick Browng~tte River Coordinator, Interstate Streams Investigation
Randy Seaholm, Chief, Interstate Streams Investigation

From:

Date:

November 20, 2000

Subject:

Agenda Item 21.d., November 20-21, 2000 Board Meeting.
Platte River Endangered Species Cooperative Agreement.

I.

Introduction

In 1997 the Governors of the states of Coloraco, Nebraska and Wyoming signed an
agreement with the Department of Interior to improve and/or study the habitat of four
endangered species in the Central Platte River in Nebraska. The proposed program has
three components: water, land, and monitoring and research. This memorandum will
highlight the status of the negotiations and summarize some of the key acti vities of several
of the Cooperative Agreement (CA) Committees,

II. Status of Negotiations

Negotiation of a long-term agreement has been put on hold pending completion of a
number of important tasks/milestones. A complete list of task/milestones is being
completed. In general the tasks/milestones are intended to identify and summarize
information, which the parties to the CA feel is critical to understand prior to negotiating a
long-term agreement. Examples of the type of information that will be gathered include: a
more detailed understanding of sediment concerns and options: a more clear understanding
of the future depletion plans for Nebraska and Wyoming especially in regard to
hydrologically connected ground and surface water: a more complete understanding of
baseline habitat conditions,

A draft CA extension document that details the current status of existing mIlestones, and
identifies new tasks and milestone was developed over the last few weeks. We anticipate a
CA extension through December 31, 2002. The Governor's and their staff have been
briefed in each of the states and to our knowledge no major issues have been raised.