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. . . Gunnison River Basin AsplnaU Operations Meeting April 20, 2006 - The following are highlights of the meeting held at the USBR Grand Junction office. A meeting summary is available on the USBR WCAO website. I. April runoff forecasts estimated inflows to the Aspinall Unit of 94% of average. That would be sufficient to fill Blue Mesa Reservoir and perhaps allow for some bundling of excess water for a few days to enhance the spring peak flow to benefit endangered fish. (Note: the May 1 forecast for Aspinall Unit inflow decreased 100 KAF and therefore Blue Mesa may notfill and will not have excess water for a spring peak flow). 2. Black Canyon flows were projected to be 1000 - 1200 cfs throughout the summer. The decreased May 1 forecast likely will result in reduced Black Canyon flows. 3. Overall, reservoirs in the basin have good carryover storage. 4. The Colorado Division of Wildlife requested flows in the 550-600 cfs range during the last week of September to facilitate fishery inventories in the Gunnison Gorge. 5. The National Park Service would like to accomplish vegetation monitoring the week of July 17'" and would prefer flows in the 500-600 cfs range to allow river crossings. W AP A has some concerns with this because of the high power demand in July. The BLM did not anticipate significant recreation impacts with the request. Reclamation will further evaluate this request. 6. Satish Regonda, a graduate student at University of Colorado, made a presentation on a new method for forecasting spring runoff. Historically, January forecasts are not very accurate. New methods of incorporating large scale climatic patterns into the forecast are being investigated. 7. The next meeting is scheduled for August 24, 2006 at the Elk Creek Visitor Center. Aspinall Reoperations EIS: This EIS seeks to adjust Aspinall operations to satisfy Endangered Fish flow reconunendations. On April 21" meetings of cooperating agencies and the associated hydrology committee were held. The hydrology committee is discussing modeling questions such as appropriate period of record, coordinated use of the state's CDSS and VSBR Riverware models, and the model output information needed to properly compare the alternatives for this EIS process. The cooperating agency meeting focused on further development of action alternatives. One approach may be successive additions of particular changes in operations to meet the desired outcome. Another approach being discussed is the development of an alternative that addresses the important concerns of several agencies (and their constituents) simultaneously while attempting to improve flows. Staff continues its efforts to assure that the 300,000 AF of developable water in the Aspinall Unit is protected. Platte River Basin Chatfield Reservoir ReaUocation Study: Tfhis project is slated for completion in late 2006. However this timeline may need to be extended based on water user requests for more time to complete the reallocation of storage space, along with a new element of environmental restoration that potentially could be added to the study. he Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Group has met on a regular basis including the most recent meeting in February 2006. The group met again on May lOth to continue discussions and progress updates on the overall study process. To recap, the fundamental scope of the study is to look at the feasibility of converting flood control storage space in Chatfield Reservoir, owned by the U.S. Corps of Engineers (Corps), into water supply storage space. The target amount of space for the reallocation analysis has been 20,600 acre-feet, and the Corps did announce that the Antecedent Flood Study has been finalized and accepted by the peer review committee. In addition, final endorsement by the highest level of Corps officials has been received in writing which confirms that the new water supply 19