BOARD02475

• Board Meeting Date: 3/21/2002
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

the seven basin state representatives. The first technical group meeting will be held in Las Vegas on Mar.
28. Scott Ba1comb and Randy Seaholm will be attending on our behalf.

Glen Canyon Institute Survey: A recent internet survey sponsored by the Glen Canyon Institute, a group
committed to the removal of Glen Canyon Dam, showed that 70% (827\1185 responses) of those that
responded were opposed to the removal of the dam and felt that a reservoir in the middle of the desert was in
fact a good idea.

Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program: Attached is Bob Muth's director's report for
March.

Not included in the report, but of major importance, is the fact that all states now have executed contracts
with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for program cost share. Colorado completed its contract on
Mar. 8. This allows recovery activities to move forward or) all fronts.

We have also been contributing significant time to upgrading the Colorado River Planning Model to
incorporate all recovery actions so that the model accurately reflects what can be accomplished under the
Coordinated Facilities Phase II alternatives when operated in conjunction with existing flow enhancements.

California Implementation Agreement, Inadvertent Overrun and Payback Policy and Related Federal
Actions: A draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released on Jan, 7. The DEIS covers all the
federal actions that are required to implement the California 4.4 plan. Comments on the DEIS were initially
due Mar. 12, but the comment period has been extended td mar. 26. We still have reservations about the
inadvertent overrun accounting, but in the grand scheme of things, this process must move forward. We will ,
distribute our comment letter at the Board meeting.

Snowmass Creek 404 Permit Update: The DOW prepared a draft biologic monitoring plan for Snowmass
Creek and provided it to the Corps in December 2001. The Corps distributed the plan to interested parties in_
January and it is currently open for review and comment. .,

Gunnison River Basin Issues

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Reclamation Responds to CWCB: On Feb. 25 we receiv:ed a reply from Commissioner Keys to our August
2001 letter regarding Reclamation's modeling of the histohc operations of the Aspinall Storage Unit. The
Commissioner states in his letter that the "utilization and apportionment of the waters of the State of
Colorado should be a State issue."

The Commissioner recognized that there are multiple issues facing the Gunnison River Basin including the
NPS reserved right quantification and the USFWS's flow recommendations.

He also replied that Reclamation is developing a projectiop. of water demands in the basin (a draft ofthis
document is on our web site) and that the demand forecast will be used as a component of a future
programmatic biological opinion. He reiterates that the projections are not designed to validate the yield
from Aspinall nor will they act as a cap on future deve10pJ;I1ent. A copy of the letter is attached.

Black Canyon ofthe Gunnison National Park Reserved Water Right: The objectors have agreed on set
of proposed stay conditions and transmitted those conditions to the NPS. The proposed stay is attached.

Water Workshop: The dates of the 2ih Colorado Water 'workshop have been changed to July 31-Aug. 2 to
avoid conflicting with the annual meeting of the Hell's A1).gles Motorcycle Corporation. Unfortunately,
changing the dates of our meeting will cause other scheduling problems so we will propose an alternate
location when we meet.

In addition, Lucy High has left her job as the workshop's coordinator to work with the Gunnison ranchland
Legacy Project. George Sibley will replace her.

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