BOARD02312

• Board Meeting Date: 11/19/2001
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Shennan Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

Q

October 10,2001

Bill Owens
Governor

John Hereford, Executive Director
State Board of the
Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund
1600 Broadway, Suite 1650
Denver, CO 80202

Dear Mr. Hereford:

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) was created in 1937. It is responsible for flood protection, water
supply protection, stream and lake protection, water project planning and financing, state water policy, and other water
resource responsibilities. The agency operates under the direction of a IS-member board. The Board is comprised of
representatives from eight major river basins and the City and County of Denver plus the Executive Director of the
Department of Natural Resources, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Colorado Attorney General, the State
Engineer, the Division of Wildlife Director, and the CWCB Director.

The CWCB would like to express its support for the Colorado Division of Wildlife's (CDOW) continued emphasis on
Species Conservation Program funding via GOCO wildlife quadrant lottery funds.

The Colorado Constitution specifically mandates that wildlife quadrant funds be spent in four areas: habitat protection,
species protection, wildlife watching and wildlife education. We understand that to date, approximately 64% of the
wildlife quadrant funds have been spent on habitat protection efforts, while only 20% has be spent on direct species
conservation.

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

Rod Kuharich
Director

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

We realize the importance of habitat protection as a critical component of GOCO's mission and appreciate that more
than 90% ofthe open space quadrant funds that are used to acquire open space, also benefits wildlife. However, given
the Endangered Species Act (ESA), its implications to all Coloradoans (including water users), and the relatively poor
funding to address this federal mandate, we are concerned about reductions in funding to vigorously address urgent
species conservation issues.

The state and its many partners have taken a progressive, comprehensive approach to address ESA issues. The GOCO
wildlife quadrant funds, through the CDOW, are critical to this partnership effort. The GOCO funds, matched with
dollars from the CDOW cash funds, the Species Conservation Trust Fund (from the State General Fund), and other
private and federal funds provide significant leverage for GOCO's species conservation mandate. As primary
contributors to this statewide partnership, ($2. Million from the CWCB' s Construction Fund), we strongly urge the
GOCO Board to continue to fully fund and support the Species Conservation Program, as requested by CDOW.and the
Department of Natural Resources.

Thank you for your consideration and understanding regarding the importance of funding species conservation efforts
in Colorado.

Sincerely,

Rod Kuharich
. XC:

CWCB Members

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