BOARD00122 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2007
• Description: ISF Section - North Fork Escalante Creek Instream Flow Appropriation, Water Division 4 - Final Action Requested
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of N aturaI Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

To:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor

From: Jeff Baessler
Todd Doherty

Harris D. Sherman
Executive Director

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

Date January 10, 2007

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Re: Agenda Item 27, January 23-24, 2007- Board Meeting
Stream and Lake Protection - North Fork Escalante Creek
Final Action Requested

General Background
Pursuant to Rule 5h. of the Instream Flow and Natural Lake Level Rules ("ISF Rules"),
the stream segment on the North Fork Escalante Creek is being recommended to the
Board for Final Action. At the May 2006 CWCB meeting, the Board extended the
deadline to file a Notice to Contest and adopted a modified hearing schedule for the
proposed instream flow appropriation on North Fork Escalante Creek. Notices to Contest
were received by Mika Ag Corporation, Trout Unlimited, BLM and Western Resource
Advocates. The parties were able to reach resolution and have all withdrawn their
contested status.

Technical Investigations
The Board was provided detailed information regarding all field data, studies and
analyses for each stream segment at the January 24-25, 2006 Board meeting. At that
meeting the Board declared its intent to appropriate the specific instream flow water
rights.

Natural Environment Studies
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have conducted field surveys on this stream
and found a natural environment which can be preserved. To quantify the resources and
to evaluate instream flow and natural lake level requirements, the BLM staff collected
biologic and hydraulic data, and the CWCB staff reviewed and analyzed this data. Based
on the results of these reviews/analyses, the CWCB staff prepared recommendations for
the amount of water necessary to preserve the natural environment to a reasonable degree
for the North Fork Escalante Creek.