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IN REPLY REFER TO: United States Department of the Interior BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Colorado State Oftice 2850 Youngtield Street Lakewood, Colorado 80215-7093 .~. www.co.blm.gov CO-932 7250 Ht'r,. 1. i1' Ill' ll; 1 11 'I' ., Mr. Dan Merriman Colorado Water Conservation Board 1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 Denver, Colorado 80203 Dear Mr. Merriman: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is writing this letter to formally communicate its instream flow recommendation for Garner Creek, located in Water Division 3. . Location and Land Status: Garner Creek originates in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and terminates on the floor of the San Luis Valley, approximately 2 miles southeast of the community of Mineral Hot Springs. Two stream reaches were surveyed. The first begins at the Forest Service-BLM boundary and extends 2.1 miles downstream to the confluence with Major Creek. Approximately 40 percent of this reach runs through lands owned and managed by BLM, while the remaining 60 percent of the reach is in private ownership. The second stream reach that was surveyed begins at the confluence with Major Creek, and extends 1.7 miles downstream to the BLM-private land boundary. Approximately 65 percent of this reach runs through lands owned and managed by BLM, while the remaining 35 percent of the reach is in private ownership. Biological Summary: Garner Creek is a small, headwaters stream that drains the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and disappears into the Closed Basin. These characteristics alone make it a candidate for reintroduction of Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout. Garner Creek presently has a reproducing population of brook trout. Substrate, food supplies, and water quality are excellent for salmonids. Channel stability and cover are better in the upper reach than in the lower reach, but the lower reach is sufficiently stable to support a fishery. Both reaches are limited by the availability of pool habitat, so it is important to protect flows to provide as much physical habitat as possible R2Cross Analysis: BLM collected one data in each reach, and the resulting recommendations were within the confidence interval for the R2Cross model. BLM recommends the following flows to protect the natural environment to a reasonable degree: .