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<br />0;]J:33 <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />In 1973, the Colorado State Legislature passed a law, commonly <br />referred to as Senate Bill 97, which established that the diversion <br />of water from a stream was no longer a requirement for beneficial <br />use. The law specifically provides that "beneficial use shall also <br />include the appropriation by the State of Colorado in the manner <br />prescribed by law of such minimum flows between specific points or <br />levels for and on natural lakes and streams as are required to pre- <br />serve the natural environment to a reasonable degree."l <br /> <br />This act established for the first time in the history of water <br />law appropriation in the western United States that water left in <br />a stream to sustain fish and wildlife is a beneficial use. This <br />law was challenged in the courts of the State of Colorado and was <br />recently upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court. The Colorado Water <br />Conservation Board has instructed the Colorado Division of Wild- <br />life (herein after referred to as DOW) to continue to evaluate <br />streams throughout the State and recommend minimum stream flows <br />for fisheries. <br /> <br />The Ecological Services Section of the DOW, in close cooper- <br />ation with regional biologists, has already filed several hundred <br />requests for minimum stream flows around the State. These requests <br />have been based on a computer modeling method known as Sag Tape, <br />U.S. Forest Service R-2 Cross, Colorado R-2 Cross, of lFGl (Anon- <br />ymous, 1974). All of these names refer to basically the same <br />technique. This was the "state-of-the-art" method at the time of <br />the passage of S.B. 97. <br /> <br />In the past 6 years the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has <br />done intensive work in the field of instream flow assessment through <br />the Instream Flow Service Group (IFSG) resulting in significant <br />improvements in methodology (Bovee and Milhous, 1978). Currently <br />the IFSG is sponsoring the "Phase II Program" under which selected <br />instream flow methodologies are being evaluated under contracts <br />with 14 western states, including Colorado. <br /> <br />The "Statement of Work" attached to the contract (No. 14-16- <br />996-78-909, March 16, 1978) specifies methodologies to be used, <br />criteria for selecting streams and reaches to be studied, and a <br />schedule of tasks to be accomplished. This is the final report <br />on the work accomplished under this contract. <br /> <br />Isenate Bill No. 97, Colorado State Senate, p.l, Enacted and approved <br />April 23, 1973. <br /> <br />/ <br />/ <br />