BOARD02463

• Board Meeting Date: 3/22/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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New Mexico Legislature to Approve Measure to Provide for a Strategic Water Reserve: The New
Mexico state legislature is close to enacting legislation to authorize a strategic water reserve to allow the
Interstate Stream Commission to purchase or lease water from willing sellers. "This legislation is
important because it gives the state more options for meeting interstate stream compact deliveries and for
managing water for the benefit of threatened and endangered species," said New Mexico State Engineer
John D'Antonio.

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San Juan River Basin

Dolores River Dialogue Update: The Dolores River Dialogue, a process involving water users,
environmental groups, recreational interests, and local, state and federal agencies, was formed to explore
the possibilities of better managing the water resources in the Dolores River Basin to everyone's benefit.

To address the many facets of this issue the group has developed a Plan to Proceed that involves the
formation of a Technical Team, a Core hydrology Group and a Core Science Group. The Technical Team
oversees the scope of work in the Plan to Proceed and is responsible to the Dolores River Dialogue Group
as a whole.

The Core Hydrology Group is looking into the hydrology and water use in the basin and is identifying
opportunities for improved water management for wet, normal and dry year conditions. They have
completed their initial investigations and have provided their initial findings to the Core Science Group
for its use.

The Core Science Group is looking into the river system below McPhee Reservoir from a fishery, both
warm and cold water species, stream channel geomorphology, and environmental perspective. A
coordinator for the Core Science Group has been retained and he has assembled a team of scientists from
several disciplines to address the varied challenges presented by a study ofthis type.

Initially, the Dialogue Group had hoped that all work would be done by early summer and would be
reviewed in a Dolores River Dialogue Workshop held sometime in the summer of 2005. However, due to
the logistics of forming the team of scientists for the Core Science Group and the extent of the studies
they feel need to be done, the timeframe for this workshop will probably be fall of 2005.

If you would like additional information on this project, please contact Philip Saletta, General Manager,
Dolores Water Conservancy District, 60 S. Cactus St., P.O. Box 1150, Cortez, CO 81321; ph. 970-565-
7562; or via e-mail [e-mail].

San Juan Public Lands - "Plan for the Future": As first reported in the January 2005 Director's
Report, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau ofRec1amation (BLM) started a joint long-term
planning effort in January 2005 in the San Juan Basin. The San Juan Public Lands Center, as the joint
USFSIBLM management unit is known, is the first governmental unit of this type to conduct such ajoint
long-range plan. This planning effort will address the management of over 2.5 million acres of National
Forest and BLM lands.

The joint planning effort began wifu the formati.on of Community S.tudy Groups. These gr<mps are to
meet on a monthly basis for about seven months to learn about and provide input on the natural resources
and public uses on Sand Juan Public lands and make suggestions for management of those lands. The
office of Community Services out of Fort Lewis College will facilitate these meetings. The initial round
of meetings was held in January 2005 in Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs

The Public Lands Center is currently exploring the formation of a "Government Water Roundtable" group
to lead the discussions on water issues in the plan revision process. Local governmental organizations
and water users in the area have suggested this approach. Meetings are plarmed in March to determine the

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