BOARD01957

• Board Meeting Date: 3/21/2006
• Description: CF Section - Fish and Wildlife Resources Fund - Colorado River Water Conservation District - Elkhead Reservoir Mitigation Plan Grant Request
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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COLORADO RIVER WATER
CONSERVATION DISTRICT

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February 28, 2006

Mr. Mike Serlet
Chief of Planning and Construction
Colorado Water Conservation Board
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203

RE: REVISED February 28, 2006 - Application for Water Resources Project Mitigation Grant
Under C.R.S. Section 37-60-122.2 for Enlargement of Elkhead Reservoir, Moffat and
Routt counties, Colorado

Dear Mr. Serlet:

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We previously submitted an application for mitigation assistance to the Colorado Water
Conservation Board (CWCB) on April 20, 2005. We understand our application has undergone
review by the CWCB staff and has received a favorable review by the Colorado Wildlife
Commission. We have revised and are resubmitting our application without the permanent game
fish containment screens on the outlet works of the enlarged reservoir, determined by CWCB
staff to be in-eligible. The enlargement construction is now half complete. The cost information
included in this revised grant application is a much better estimate of project costs than possible
in April 2005. We ask for your review and favorable consideration of this revised application.

The Colorado River Water Conservation District (River District) is undertaking the enlargement
and improvement of facilities of the Elkhead Reservoir in Moffat and Routt counties near Craig,
Colorado. The enlargement project is a cooperative effort between the River District, the City of
Craig, and the Recovery Program for Endangered Fishes of the Upper Colorado (Recovery
Program). Funding for the project is being provided by the River District (including a loan with
the CWCB Construction Fund), and the Recovery Program via the Colorado Department of
Natural Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The River District is writing to request a mitigation grant in the amount of $1,048,554 by the
Colorado Water Conservation Board (Board) to the River District on behalf of the project as
provided for in C.R.S. 37-60-122.2. This revised grant application includes the project costs
related to mitigating the impacts to the in-reservoir game fishery by maintaining a game fish
mitigation pool in the reservoir during the dam enlargement construction.

. Extraordinary construction measures were used in this project to enable the dam to be enlarged

Suite #200 * 201 Centennial Street / PO Box 1120 Glenwood Springs, Colorado 81602
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