BOARD02207

• Board Meeting Date: 1/12/1998
• Description: Flood Section - Statewide River Rehabilitation and Floodplain Management Needs Inventory
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

~ . .,.- -..

The Board accepted the proposal and recommended that language be added to the Board's
Construction Fund Bill for authorization and funding. As a result, the following language was .
included in Senate Bill 97.008:

Section 9. Statewide river rehabilitation and floodplain management needs
inventory. The Colorado water conservation board is hereby authorized to
expend up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from the Colorado water
conservation board construction fund to develop a scope of work and contract for
services to conduct a statewide inventory of river channel restoration and
floodplain management needs. The finding of the needs assessment will be the
basis for a proposal to determine the economic feasibility of establishing a
statewide floodplain management and river channel rehabilitation program
funded separately from the Colorado water conservation board construction fund.
The proposed program would represent a comprehensive approach and source of
funds for local governments to better manage and address multi.objective river
issues including floodplain management, flood hazard mitigation measures,
streambank and channel erosion, loss of channel conveyance capacity, and loss
of wildlife habitat areas.

The General Assembly did authorize funding for this proposal; the "Statewide River
Rehabilitation and Floodplain Management Needs Inventory."

Actions

In response to the CWCB request and the Legislature's authorization the staff proposed a
detailed "Scope of Work." The tasks, which were outlined in the "Scope of Work", were to be
performed by a consultant (McLaughlin Water Engineers Ltd. (MWE )) and reviewed and acted
upon by a steering committee and the CWCB.

.

The project reviews and oversight were conducted by the Steering Committee members (See
Table I) and Board staff. The Steering Committee meetings were held on October 17th,
December lOth, and January 14th. The Steering Committee's focus for the meetings was as
follows:
Meeting I - design a questionnaire;
Meeting 2 - review preliminary questionnaire findings and determine needs categories;
Meeting 3 - endorsement of the need categories and funding mechanisms.

The Steering Committee endorsed a program title of "Stewardship of Colorado Stream
Corridors." The staff has worked closely with the Steering Committee and the consultant, and
we fully support the recommendations. A status report for the inventory is attached for your
information and consideration. The report includes:
. An Executive Swnmary
. Four "needs categories" - Planning Assistance, Funding for Project and Planning
Implementation, Public Information, and Policy and Criteria
. Data and information regarding problems with flooding and drainage, values of stream
corridors, funding mechanisms, community and organizational responses and;
. Recommended stewardship program activities. .