Colorado & Western Water Project Staff Notes

May 2009 We are working with several other conservation groups on an analysis of the gap between water supply and demand on Colorado’s Front Range. We hope to offer an alternative to a future, additional diversion of water from Colorado’s Western Slope.

The Colorado Water Project (CWP) continues to evaluate and or monitor the progress of several Environmental Impact Statements for various water development projects around the state such as the Windy Gap Firming, Denver Moffat Expansion, and Northern Integrated Supply Project.

The CWP staff continues to provide environmental perspective on several large cooperative endeavors including the Halligan Seaman Shared Vision Plan and the Colorado River Wild and Scenic Management Plan Alternative. The CWP staff has been working with state and local governments, water providers and other environmental groups to draft an Upper Colorado River Wild and Scenic Management Plan Alternative (MPA). Most recently, the east slope water users unilaterally developed a proposal for flow guides on the Colorado River between Kremmling and State Bridge, Colorado. CWP staff and west slope water users are in the process of evaluating the east slope water user’s proposal.

On May 7, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operators made the first release in a new flow regime that is expected to help restore the Gunnison River canyon ecosystem and return it to a more natural state. Water releases from the Aspinall Unit will increase each day until reaching a peak flow of about 6,000 cfs in the Black Canyon on May 13, after which the releases will begin to drop until leveling off at approximately 1,900 cfs in the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge on May 21. Among other benefits, the higher flows will help flush out sediment deposits that have caused whirling disease and other problems for trout, clear out encroaching vegetation and woody debris, and help maintain the river channel.

Heavy spring snows delayed the start of the field season in Colorado. CWP staff had hoped to get out prior to the start of runoff to work with Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado Water Conservation Board staffs installing several pressure transducers in West Prong Slater Creek to monitor flows above and below diversion structures. This field work is now scheduled for mid-June. The results of this effort will be used to help establish the instream flow requirements of this Colorado River cutthroat trout stream. The results will also be used to evaluate the potential value of an instream flow donation and/or acquisition on this stream.

CWP staff plans to perform an analysis of barriers to Colorado River cutthroat trout in the Yampa basin. The analysis will provide a roadmap for future barrier removal work in the basin to reconnect cutthroat habitat.

Wasington Post Video Interview: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

A series of in-depth interviews - a must see.

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The signing of State SB141 was barely mentioned by most of our local media. It's not surprising; the legislature passes and the Governor signs many bills and only a handful make the front page. But I'm convinced that ten or twenty years from now, when we look back, we'll view the signing of SB141 as a major milestone.Read more

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Black Canyon awash in water-rights victory

By Mark JaffeThe Denver Post

MONTROSE — A roaring white arc of water cascading over the Crystal Dam and into Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on Wednesday was a sign of victory.

The National Park Service has been fighting for water rights for parks across the West for nearly 40 years.

"Whether it is a geyser at Yellowstone or the water that shapes and stabilizes Colorado's Great Sand Dunes, water is vital for the parks," said Bart Miller, an attorney with Western Resource Advocates in Boulder.

The Park Service already has won water rights for 25 parks in nine Western states, the last two for Colorado's Black Canyon and Great Sand Dunes. Eight more agreements are being negotiated.

It took 36 years and Colorado's biggest water-rights battle — with two court cases, more than 300 letters of opposition and 45 different parties in the final negotiations — for the canyon to get its water.

Hydropower agencies, ranchers, a Front Range suburban water supplier, conservation groups and federal agencies all were at the table.

"In the end we struck a balance," said Trout Unlimited attorney Drew Peternell. "Nobody got everything, but everybody got something."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12373597

Black Canyon gets a scouring

By Mark JaffeThe Denver Post

MONTROSE — A whitewater torrent rushed over the Crystal Dam on Wednesday and coursed into Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

The release marked the end of a 36-year battle by the National Park Service to win an annual spring discharge from a series of dams upstream to cleanse and scour the river through the canyon.

"This has been one of the longest, most complex water-right battles in Colorado," said Drew Peternell, an attorney for the sportsmen's group Trout Unlimited.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12365194

Western Slope taking a dim view of exports

By CHRIS WOODKATHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

BASALT - While the Arkansas River basin celebrates its supplementary supply of water now being imported in sheets, the basin where that water chiefly comes from is raising concerns about its own water supply.

Water users in the Roaring Fork basin staged a summit of sorts Tuesday to consider the state of their watershed, an aspen-leaf shaped area of 1,453 square miles that, coincidentally, has Aspen at its heart.

Those who spoke at the meeting emphasized that leaving water in the river for recreational purposes is an important benefit to the Western Slope.

“We have to change the mindset we have in Colorado that water left in the river is a waste,” said Ken Neubecker, president of Colorado Trout Unlimited.

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/05/13/news/local/doc4a0a598657d15540868905.txt

Rulings drain protections for state waterways

Supreme Court decisions and the Bush years limited the Clean Water Act's scope, but guidelines are changing.

By Mark Jaffe The Denver Post

An analysis by Trout Unlimited, a sportsmen's group, of 500 discharges found that a quarter of them were on nonperennial streams.

"Those plants could make an argument they are no longer under the Clean Water Act," said Melinda Kassen, a Trout Unlimited attorney. "We have to be careful we don't treat our streams and rivers as industrial sewers."

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12335006

Black Canyon river flows swell after 36-year fight

By Mark JaffeThe Denver Post

After one of the biggest water battles in Colorado history, extra water began flowing out of the Crystal Reservoir on Thursday to restore Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

Releases will increase over the next few days until the Gunnison River in the canyon rises to six times its current flow — aiming to simulate natural spring runoff and help restore the park's river ecosystem.

The National Park Service fought in state and federal courts for 36 years to obtain a water right for the park.

"This was bitterly fought and had more opposition than any other water right," said Drew Peternell, an attorney for Trout Unlimited.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12321529

In Black Canyon, a New Era of Water Management Begins

Fly Rod & Reel The rebirth of a Colorado river begins this month, as water officials start to put the landmark 2008 Black Canyon of the Gunnison settlement into effect.

On May 7, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) operators made the first release in a new flow regime that is expected to help restore the Gunnison River canyon ecosystem and return it to a more natural state.

“After years of hard work by Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups, this is the payoff,” said Drew Peternell, director of Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project. “With these renewed flows, the Gunnison River through the Black Canyon will experience a rebirth, and its priceless natural resources will be safeguarded for generations to come.”

http://www.flyrodreel.com/node/12228