ISFAPPC03327

• Case Number: 00CW0103
• Stream Name: Fourmile Creek
• Watershed: Fourmile Creek
• Water Division: 2
• Water District: 12
• County: Fremont
• Instream Flow App - Doc Type: Supplemental Data

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of Q), the summer flow recommendation based upon meeting 3 of 3 hydraulic criteria and the
winter flow recommendation based upon 2 of 3 hydraulic criteria.

Table I: Data
Party Date Q 250%-40% Summer (3/3) Winter (2/3)
WWW/QR 11117/98 8.58 21.5 - 3.4 ? 2.0(1)

DOW/WWW 4/15/99 9.39 23.5 - 3.8 6.9 4.5
WWW/QR 11/16/98 12.5 31.3 - 5.0 16.0 1.6(1)
WWW/QR 11116/99 10.73 26.8 - 4.3 5.3 4.5
BLM = Bureau of Land Management now _ Division of Wildlife WWW=WW Wheeler OR _ Queen of the River
(I) Predicted flow outside of die accuracy range of Manning's Equation. ? = Criteria never met in R2CROSS Stagmg Table.

Biologic Flow Recommendations
The BLM recommended a 13.0 cfs summer flow and a 4.5 cfs winter flow based on their April
17th, 1996, data collection effort. An alternative flow recommendation was proposed by the City
of Cripple Creek and Cripple CreeklVictor Mining Company based on additional data collected
by WWW/QR, of 6.0 cfs, April I through July 31 and 4.25 cfs, August 1 - March 31. The
WWW/QR flow recommendations were based on an adjustment of the CWCB/CDOW I ft/sec
velocity criteria standard for summer flows down to 0.8 ft/sec (See WWW/QR Executive
Summary). The CWCB tabled action on this flow recommendation until CWCB staff could
review the additional data collected by WWW/QR and to collect additional data, if necessary.

Staff reviewed the data collected by the BLM and WWW/QR and decided to collect one more
data set, bringing the total number of data sets for review to four. The summer flow
recommendations, which met 3 of 3 criteria and are within the accuracy range of the R2CROSS
model fall somewhere between 16.0 and 5.25 cfs (See Table 1). Averaging the three summer
flow recommendations gives a summer recommendation of 9.4 cfs. The winter flow
recommendations which met 2 of 3 criteria and are within the accuracy range of the R2CROSS
model fall is 4.5 cfs (See Table I). Averaging the two winter flow recommendations gives a
summer recommendation of 4.5 cfs.

Hydrologic Data

After receiving the cooperating agencies' biologic recommendation, the CWCB staff conducted
an evaluation of the stream hydTOlogy to determine if water was physically available for an
instream flow appropriation. The hydro graph was derived from data collected by the USGS
stream gage for Fourmile Creek below Cripple Creek (10 #07096250), which has a drainage area
of 272 square miles (See Gage Summary in Appendix C). The period of record for this gage is
1992 to present, the period of record used by staff in their analysis was 1992 - 1997, or five years
of record. The estimated drainage area of Fourmile Creek upstream and including Cripple Creek
is 272 square. To estimate the flow of Fourmile Creek at Trail Gulch, staff used the measuTed
flow at the USGS gage and added the estimated inflow from the Carlton Tunnel, approximately
2.8 cfs, to all values. Tables 2 and 3 below display the estimated flow of Fourmile Creek at the
confluence with Cripple Creek and Trail Gulch, in terms of a percentage of exceedence. The
orange shading highlights how often the summer flow has been available and the blue shading
highlights how often the winter flow has been available.