2004 Steamboat Lake Lease and Sublease

• Case Number: 95CW0150
• Stream Name: Yampa River
• Watershed: Yampa River
• Water Division: 6
• Water District: 58
• County: Moffat
• Instream Flow Acq - Doc Type: Contracts, MOA/MOU, Leases, Agreements

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WHEREAS, the Board is a state agency created for the purpose of
aiding in the protection and development of the waters of the state
for the benefit of the state's present and future inhabitants, (S
37-60-102, C.R.S.); and

WHEREAS, it is the duty of the Board to promote the conservation
of the waters of the state in order to secure the greatest utilization
of such waters and the utmost prevention of floods, which includes the
power and the duty to: cooperate with the United States and its agen~
cies for the purpose of bringing about the greater utilization of the
waters of the state; investigate and assist in formulating a response
to the plans, purposes, procedures, requirements, laws, proposed laws,
or other activities of the federal government which affect or might
affect the use or development of the water resources of the state;
confer with and appear before the officers, representatives, boards,
bureaus, committees, commissions, or other agencies of the federal
government for the purpose of protecting and asserting the authority,
interests, and rights of the State of Colorado and its citizens with
respect to the waters of the interstate streams in the state; and in,
general, take such action and have such powers as are incidental to
the foregoing specific provisions and to the general purposes of the
statute (S 37-60-106, C.R.S.); and

WHEREAS, the Board is vested with the exclusive authority to ap-
propriate and acquire such waters of natural streams and lakes as the
Board determines may be required for minimum stream flows or for natu-
ral surface water levels or volumes for natural lakes to preserve the
natural environment to a reasonable degree pursuant to S 37-92-102(3),
C.R.S.; and

WHEREAS, consultations under section 7 of the Endangered Species
Act had found that new water projects in the upper Colorado River Bas-
in would likely jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered
fish species, so that the protection of the endangered fish threatened
to embroil all interested parties in a confrontation between resource
protection and resource development; and

WHEREAS, the states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah; the Service;
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; the Western Area Power Administration;
water resource development organizations; and environmental organiza-
tions developed and agreed to the Recovery Implementation Program for
Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin
(Implementation Program); and

WHEREAS, the purpose of the Implementation Program is to recover
the endangered fish while providing for water development to continue
and proceed in the Upper Colorado River Basin in accordance with
interstate compacts and federal and state' law; and

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