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Memo to Colorado Water Conservation Board Members From: Peter Evans and Gene Jencsok Date: October 17,1995 SUBJECT: Agenda Item 2, October 20, 1995 Board Meeting Endangered Fish Recovery ISF Water Right - Colorado River (Mainstcm) Page 5 The CWCB reviewed these flow recommendations in detail at its May 1995 meeting. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) has reviewed the FWS recommendations and concluded, in essence, that they are based upon the best available data and scientific methods. The FWS and CDOW experts will be present at the October 20 meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado to review their evaluation of the biological basis, the flow recommendations, and to answer any questions you may have. CWCB "Interim Strategv" for Endan~ered Fish Recoverv Instream Flows. Following almost two years of discussion among Recovery Program participants, public meetings and drafting, the .CWCB adopted its Statement oj Policy and Procedure Regarding the Appropriation oj Instream Flows for the Recovery of Endangered Fishes of the Upper Colorado River Basin ("1994 Statement of Policy and Procedure," or "interim strategy") at its March 1994 meeting. Adoption of the Statement of Policy and Procedure by the CWCB effectively opened a pathway for the appropriation of instream flow water rights based upon FWS flow recommendations while remaining uncertainties related to both the development of Colorado's compact apportionment and the hydrologic requirements of the endangered fish can continue to be analyzed (if not resolved). Initial efforts to develop this interim strategy were undertaken within the Recovery Program based upon the 1993 agreement concerning "sufficient progress" and the mutual commitment of all Recovery Program participants to produce sufficient benefits for the endangered fishes through Recovery Program activities to satisfy ESA regulatory requiremcnts related to any impacts of existing water projects and the depletion impacts of future water projects, Initial Recovery Program recommendations for this interim strategy were first presented to the CWCB at a workshop in May 1992, and were subsequently evaluated and revised .by the CWCB on the basis of several public workshops and meetings. In adopting its interim strategy, the CWCB recognized that protection of in stream flows for the endangered fishes has been a primary concern of the FWS and the Recovery Program and supported the Recovery Program's recognition that any water rights needed for recovery of the endangered fishes should be acquired or appropriated under state law rather than under federal law. The CWCB also recognized that a fundamental premise underlying Colorado's participation in the Recovery Program is that protection of fish recovery instream flows will not deprive the people of the state of Colorado of the beneficial use of those waters availabie by law and interstate compact. Flow protection efforts during the first five years of the Recovery Program were limitcd by several factors, including limited knowledge of the life history and ecological requiremcnts of the endangered fishes, difficulties quantifying Colorado's apportionment of Colorado River water supplies under the Colorado and Upper Colorado River Basin Compactsof 1922 and 1948, and difficulties in predicting the size and location of future human needs for those water supplies 95C 1493