WSP04959

• File Number: 8460.500
• Description: Platte River Recovery Plan
• Basin: South Platte
• Date: 8/3/1999
• Author: Colo Div of Wildlife
• Title: Final Environmental Assessment for the Tamarack Managed Groundwater Recharge Project at Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area and Pony Express State Wildlife Area
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

I. SUMMARY

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The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW), in cooperation with the Colorado Water
Conservation Board and a coalition of water users, the South Platte Lower River Group
Inc. (SPLRG), is proposing to construct a series of water control facilities for managed
groundwater recharge at the Tamarack Ranch State Wildlife Area (TRSW A) and Pony
Express State Wildlife Area (PESW A) in extreme northeastern Colorado. This project,
referred to in this document as the CDOW/CWCB/SPLRG Cooperative Project. The two
State Wildlife Areas (SW As) are located inLogan and Sedgwick Counties respectively,
along the South Platte River (Figure 1.).

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Under the CDOW/CWCB/SPLRG Cooperative Project, numerous small storage/recharge
ponds will be created in upland areas hordering the South Platte flood plain. The ponds
will occupy natural depressions in areas characterized by semi-stabilized to stabilized sand
dunes. Water to fill the ponds will be drawn fJ;'om wells near the South Platte River, and
will be conveyed to the ponds via buried pipelines. The water used to fill the ponds will be
water in excess of legal rights to and physical demands for water in Colorado. The intent of
the project is to create wetland environments at the SW AS's, reregulate the timing of flows
in the South Platte River in such a manner as to ~nsure that water will return to the South
Platte as seepage during low flow periods, and thereby benefit the SW As by creating
additional wetland habitat on upland sites and by enhancing existing riparian habitats
along the river through increased groundwater return flows. The construction of an
associated artificial live stream between ponds is also planned on the TRSW A. The stream
is intended to serve as an outdoor laboratory for study and propagation of threatened and
endangered (T &E) fish species found in the Soutll Platte drainage in Colorado.
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The project will have the incidental effect of reduj:ing shortages to. target flows in the
"associated habitats," as that term is defined in the Cooperative Agreement for Platte
River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the
Central Platte River, Nebraska (Cooperative Agreement) (Tab 3A, Colorado's Tamarack
Plan, of the Cooperative Agreement is Appendix A). The project therefore will contribute
to Colorado's Tamarack Plan, as described in Tab 3A of the Cooperative Agreement.

II. PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION

PURPOSE: The purposes of this project are:

1) to broaden the management and use of the iTRSW A and PESW A to include benefits
to native fish species listed as threatened o~ endangered pursuant to Colorado law in
a manner that is consistent with the purposes for which these SW As's were acquired
and developed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and;

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