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<br />Summary <br />The information contained in this report and the associated instream flow file folder forms the <br />basis for staffs instream flow recommendation to be considered by the Board. It is staffs <br />opinion that the information contained in this report is sufficient to support the findings required <br />in Rule 5.40. <br /> <br />Colorado's Instream Flow Program was created in 1973 when the Colorado State Legislature <br />recognized "the need to correlate the activities of mankind with some reasonable preservation of <br />the natural environment" (see 37-92-102 (3) C.R.S.). The statute vests the CWCB with the <br />exclusive authority to appropriate and acquire instream flow and natural lake level water rights. <br />In order to encourage other entities to participate in Colorado's Instream Flow Program, the <br />statute directs the CWCB to request instream flow recommendations from other state and federal <br />agencies. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recommended this segment of Bitter Creek <br />to the CWCB for inclusion into the Instream Flow Program. Bitter Creek is being considered for <br />inclusion into the Instream Flow Program because it has a natural environment that can be <br />preserved to a reasonable degree with an instream flow water right. The BLM is very interested <br />in protecting streamflows because Bitter Creek is the only creek within an area of several <br />hundred square miles that supports a self-sustaining fishery. <br /> <br />Bitter Creek is a tributary of the Colorado River, but the mouth of the creek is located in Utah. <br />The portion of the creek within in Colorado is located in the headwaters of the watershed and is <br />approximately 7.0 miles long. It begins on the western flank of Baxter Pass at an elevation of <br />approximately 8500 feet and flows across the Utah border at an elevation of approximately 7,350 <br />feet. Of the 5.8 mile segment addressed by this report, 45% is located on federal lands managed <br />by BLM. The creek is located within Garfield County. The total drainage area of the creek in <br />Colorado is approximately 9.9 square miles. Within Colorado, Bitter Creek generally flows in a <br />southwest direction. <br /> <br />The subject of this report is a segment of Bitter Creek beginning at the headwaters and extending <br />downstream to the Colorado-Utah border. This segment is located approximately 25 miles <br />northwest of the Town of Mack. The staff has received only one recommendation on this <br />segment, from the Bureau of Land Management. The recommendation for this segment is <br />discussed below. <br /> <br />Instream Flow Recommendation(s) <br /> <br />BLM recommended 1.8 cfs, summer, and 0.4 cfs, winter, based on its September 17, 1998, data <br />collection effort (see Appendix A). The modeling results from this survey effort are within the <br />confidence interval produced by the R2Cross model. <br /> <br />Land Status Review <br /> <br />Upper Terminus <br />headwaters <br /> <br />Lower Terminus <br />CO-UT Line <br /> <br />Total Length <br />(miles) <br />5.8 <br /> <br />Land Ownership <br />% Private % Public <br />55% 45% <br /> <br />Approximately 45% of the reach is located on federal lands managed by the BLM the other 55% <br />is private land. <br /> <br />- 2 - <br />