BOARD02286

• Board Meeting Date: 5/11/1998
• Description: Colorado River Basin Issues - Endangered Species Issues - 15-Mile Reach Section 7 Consultation - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
721 Centennial Building
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

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April 23, 1998

Roy Romer
Govemor
James S. Lochhead
Executive Director, DNR
DariesC.lile, P.E.
Director, CWeB
PeterH. Evans
Acting Director, eweB

Mr. Greg Walcher, President,
Club 20
P.O. Box 550
Grand Junction, CO 81502-0550

Dear Mr. Walcher:

I am pleased to provide this response to your September 26, 1997 letter. If you
did not receive a response last fall, please accept my apology.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has always been sensitive to
western Colorado water interests, although we have learned a great deal more about those
interests through recent discussions concerning the proposed ESA Section 7 consultation
for the IS-Mile Reach. Early in those discussions, it was suggested that the proposed
"programmatic biological opinion" should conform to the "development allowance" and
other provisions of the 1995 recovery flow water right applications for the IS-Mile
Reach. However, the Board's view is that first we need to figure out the provisions of the
biological opinion, which we expect will clarify the benefits we should be able to rely on
from the Recovery Program - not only for endangered species but for Colorado water
users and Colorado communities. Then, once we are in agreement with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and other Recovery Program participants regarding the benefits that
program will provide and the accomplishments required to assure those benefits, we will
be in a better position to know whether these water rights are needed and, if so, how they
need to be structured to serve the ecological and water supply goals of the Recovery
Program. '.,

As I indicated on the telephone last week, you are welcome tojoin us in our next
meeting of the water users, environmental interests, and federal agencies on May 4 in
Dillion (Best Western Motel, 9am - 3pm) to find out how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service proposes to respond to suggestions by many water users and the Department of
Natural Resources. I believe that this group expects to spend one (possibly two) more
sessions refining our understanding of the issues and opportunities presented in the
proposed ESA Section 7 consultation before entering a more detailed drafting phase in
which the conceptual agreement would be reduced to writing. This drafting process may