BOARD01888

• Board Meeting Date: 1/27/2004
• Description: ISF Section - Instream Flow Appropriations - Green Creek
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Summary
The information contained in this report and the associated instream flow file folder forms the
basis for staff s instream flow recommendation to be considered by the Board. It is staff's
opinion that the information contained in this report is sufficient to support the fmdings required
in Rule 5.40.

Colorado's Instream Flow Program was created in 1973 when the Colorado State Legislature
recognized "the need to correlate the activities of mankind with some reasonable preservation of
the natural environment" (see 37-92-102 (3) C.R.S.). The statute vests the CWCB with the
exclusive authority to appropriate and acquire instream flow and natural lake level water rights.
In order to encourage other entities to participate in Colorado's Instream Flow Program, the
statute directs the CWCB to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal
agencies. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Colorado Division of Wildlife (CD OW)
recommended these segments of Green Creek to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow
Program.

Green Creek is being considered for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program because it has a
natural environment that can be preserved to a reasonable degree with an instream flow water
right. The BLM is very interested in protecting stream flows because Green Creek is one of the
few streams managed by the BLM on the eastern side of Collegiate Range that is capable of
supporting a salmonid fishery. The CDOW is very interested in protecting stream flows because
Green Creek is one of several streams managed by CDOW with an above average cold water
fishery near Salida, Colorado. Green Creek has a considerable amount of public access
throughout its course and is therefore important for public use and recreation (including, but not
limited to angling).

Green Creek is 8.8 miles long. It begins on the northem flank of Chipeta Mountain at an
elevation of approximately 11,000 feet and terminates at the confluence with the South Fork of
the Arkansas River at an elevation of approximately 7,950 feet. Approximately 4.1 miles of the
segment addressed by this report is located on federal lands. Green Creek is located within
Chaffee County. The total drainage area of the creek is approximately 18.0 square miles. Green
Creek generally flows in a northeasterly direction.

The subject of this report is a segment of Green Creek beginning at the confluence with an
unnamed tributary and extending downstream to the confluence with the South Arkansas River
(see Map). The proposed segment is located west of Salida, CO. The staff has received only one
recommendation for this segment, from the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Division
of Wildlife. The recommendation for this segment is discussed below.

Instream Flow Recommendation(s)

BLM and CDOW recommended 3.90 cfs, summer, and 1.90 cfs, winter, based on their data
collection efforts (see Table 1 and Appendix A). The modeling results from this survey effort
are within the confidence interval produced by the R2Cross model.

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