BOARD02512

• Board Meeting Date: 1/27/2004
• Description: ISF Section - Instream Flow Appropriations - Fourmile Creek
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Summary
The information contained in this report and the associated instream flow file folder forms the
basis for staff s instream flow recommendation to be considered by the Board. It is staff's
opinion that the information contained in this report is sufficient to support the fmdings required
in Rule 5.40.

Colorado's Instream Flow Program was created in 1973 when the Colorado State Legislature
recognized "the need to correlate the activities of mankind with some reasonable preservation of
the natural environment" (see 37-92-102 (3) C.R.S.). The statute vests the CWCB with the
exclusive authority to appropriate and acquire instream flow and natural lake level water rights.
In order to encourage other entities to participate in Colorado's Instream Flow Program, the
statute directs the CWCB to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal
agencies. The Bureau of Land Management recommended this segment of Fourmile Creek to the
CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. Fourmile Creek is being considered for
inclusion into the Instream Flow Program because it has a natural environment that can be
preserved to a reasonable degree with an instream flow water right. The CWCB currently holds
an instream flow water right from its headwaters to the USFS boundary on Fourmile Creek for
1.5 cfs year-round (Case No. 2-79CW1l4). The BLM is very interested in protecting stream
flows because Fourmile Creek is one of the few streams managed by BLM on the eastem side of
the Upper Arkansas River Valley that is capable of supporting a salmonid fishery.

Fourmile Creek is approximately 10 miles long. It begins on the southem flank of the Buffalo
Peaks Wildemess at an elevation of approximately 11,300 feet and terminates at the confluence
with the Arkansas River at an elevation of approximately 8,000 feet. Approximately 0.7 miles of
the segment addressed by this report is located on federal lands. Fourmile Creek is located
within Chaffee County. The total drainage area of the creek is approximately 38 square miles.
Fourmile Creek generally flows in a southwesterly direction.

The subject of this report is a segment of Fourmile Creek beginning at the confluence of Little
Fourmile Creek and extending downstream to confluence with the Arkansas River (see Map).
The proposed segment is located north of Buena Vista. The staff has received only one
recommendation for this segment, from the BLM. The recommendation for this segment is
discussed below.

Instream Flow Recommendation(s)

BLM recommended a year-round flow of 1.2 cfs, based on its July 25, 2003, data collection
efforts (see Appendix A). The modeling results from this survey effort are within the confidence
interval produced by the R2Cross model.

land Status Review

Total Length Land Ownership
Upper Terminus Lower Terminus (miles) % Private % Public
Little Fourmile Creek Arkansas River 2.1 64% 36%

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