BOARD02220

• Board Meeting Date: 11/16/2004
• Description: CF Section - Non-Reimbursable Investments - Colorado Stream Restoration and Flood Mitigation Program
• 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.us

MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

TO:
FROM:

Russell Walcher
Executive Director

Colorado Water Conservation Board - Finance Committee
Larry Lang, Chief - Flood Protection Program
Brian Hyde - Flood Protection Program
November 4, 2004
Agenda Item IS.h. Non-Reimbursable Investments
Colorado Stream Restoration and Flood Mitigation Program

Rod Kubarich
CWCB Director

DATE:
RE:

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Introduction
Stream restoration and flood mitigation projects in Colorado provide multiple benefits to a variety of
interested parties and to end users of the watersheds and stream courses where these types of projects have
been carried out. Past efforts have indicated that successful completion of watershed-based planning
projects and engineering design projects must include a robust public process along with technical support
and funding from multiple stakeholders. The CWCB has been an active partner in this arena for many
years and has managed to do so on a limited budget. The CWCB has not had access to a regular and
reliable source of funding for this Program in past years. Instead, special allocations on an annual basis
from Severance Tax and Construction Fund investments have provided support for the Program. Last year
the Board supported a non-reimbursable investment of $75,000 and the General Assembly approved it.
Staff is now requesting a non-reimbursable investment of $75,000 for this Program for a second year.

Discussion
The Program objective is to provide planning and engineering services for stream restoration studies/projects
as well as matching dollars for partnering with federal agencies and local governments in the development of
Flood Mitigation studies/projects and to integrate the two objectives. Without the availability of investments
from the CWCB Construction Fund, there is not a reliable source of consistent funding for this program,
which has been very successful for recent projects in Colorado (i.e. Rio Grande headwaters restoration,
Alamosa River restoration, Arkansas River multi-objective study, Fountain Creek watershed study, and
others). This fund can also work in harmony with the newly created Watershed Protection Fund (State Tax
checkoff item) and the CWCB Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Fund as appropriate. In addition, CWCB funding
can be a state match for leveraging federal and local funds. Recently CWCB staff has been working jointly
on such efforts with federal partners like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection
Agency Studies and projects resulting from this program can have far reaching benefits for water supply,
flood protection, enhancement of aesthetic and environmental quality, recreation, and increased economic
benefit.

Staff Request
The staff of the Flood Protection Section is requesting approval by the Board for a non-reimbursable
investment from the CWCB Construction Fund in the amount of $75,000. The request is to provide funds
for planning and engineering services as well as matching dollars for federal grant programs.
The CWCB funds, if authorized by the Board and the General Assembly, would be available for all

Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning