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~i... STATE OF COLORADO Bill Owens, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF WILDLIFE REFER TO /3L . AN EaUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER John W. Mumma, Director 6060 Broadway Denver, Colorado 80216.1000 Telephone: (3031 297-1192 For Wildlift- For People TO: Members, CWCB FROM: John W. Mumma, Director Bruce 1. McCloskey, Chief Administrator Walt Graul, Administrator - Wildlife Programs DATE: July 21, 1999 SUBJECT: The Status of Research Activities, Data Collection Efforts, and Data Analysis R~lating to the Generation of Colorado Division of Wildlife Instream Flow Recommendations for the Yampa River and the 15 Mile Reach of the Colorado River BACKGROUND . At the January and May, 1999 meetings of the CWCB the Board took separate actions to withdraw its pending water right applications for recovery instream flows and base flow instream flows on both the 15 mile reach of the Colorado River and the Yampa River. When the Board took the final action, to withdraw the base flow filings, they expressed their interest in pursuing instream flow filings on both of these river segments that would be based on the state standard of "preserving the natural environment to a reasonable degree." The Board expressed their desire that these new instream flow filings would be based on flow recommendations generated by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Since the May meeting, CDOW staff has met with CWCB staffand staff from the Colorado Attorney General's office to discuss the anticipated process, projected workloads, time lines, and the overall status of the Division's research and data collection efforts that would be necessary to support these flow recommendations. The Division is hesitant to project when a scientifically and legally defensible flow recommendation could be finalized for either of these river segments due to the complex hydrologic, hydraulic, and ecological issues, not to mention the complex and contentious legal and political environment. At this point in time we are able to report to the Board that there are research and data collection activities planned and in-progress at the Division that will ultimately yield information that will be usable in the formulation of flow recommendations for rivers in Colorado like the Colorado River and the Yampa River. CDOW RESEARCH ACTIVITIES In 1997, Rick Anderson, the Division's large river aquatic researcher, started a five year federal aid research project that is designed to investigate fish community habitat relationships and habitat-flow relationships in the main channels of large rivers and in the side channels of these river systems. The target fish species of this research includes several species that are either federal candidate species or state species of special . DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Greg Walcher, Executive Director WILDLIFE COMMISSION: Chuck Lewis, Chair. Mark leValley, Vice-Chair. Bernard L. Black, Jr., Secretary Rick Enstrom, Member. Philip James, Member. Arnold Salazar, Member Robert Shoemaker, Member . MJrianna Raftopoulos, Member