Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Walk on the Wild Side wetlands tour SLV Dweller: "Waterfowl, raptors, shore birds, and frogs are some of the residents of Blanca Wetlands that you can find during a Colorado Field Institute tour of the Wetlands on Saturday, September 13. The fall migration should be in full swing, and various birds, reptiles and amphibians, such as frogs in various stages of development, will be found at this watchable Wildlife site...The public is invited to participate in CFI's half-day, walk-and-drive excursion at the Wetlands. Participants will meet in the south parking lot at Cole Park in Alamosa at 8 a.m. on September 13 and carpool/private car caravan to the Blanca Wetlands from there. The field trip will conclude at 11:30 a.m. and the group will return to Alamosa. Advance registration is required by September 5. Colorado Field Institute member fee is $15 per person. Non-CFI member fee is $20 per person. For more information or to register email coloradofieldinstitute@gmail.com or call 719-378-6384." Category: Colorado Water 6:11:32 PM     Northern Integrated Supply Project Here's a recap of the Fort Collins City Council meeting held last night, from The Greeley Tribune. From the article: The Fort Collins City Council voted unanimously to oppose the Northern Integrated Supply Project at its Tuesday night meeting. The council said it spent more than $700,000 on research and said that research found serious flaws in the environmental impact statement on the project that was prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Gary Wockner, spokesman for Save The Poudre Coalition, was happy with the decision. "The city's research is devastating to this project. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is seriously flawed," Wockner said in a press release. Brian Werner, spokesman with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District which plans to build the project that includes the Glade Reservoir north of Fort Collins and the Galeton Reservoir east of Ault, said the council made its decision without meeting or talking with Northern officials. More coverage from The Fort Collins Coloradoan. They write: The proposed Glade Reservoir and the Northern Integrated Supply Project received a unanimous thumbs down Tuesday from the Fort Collins City Council. Citing the potential harm the massive water project could have on the city and the Poudre River, council members voted 6-0 in favor of a resolution opposing NISP as it is described in a draft Environmental Impact Statement that is under public review. The city wants to stay engaged in the long federal process that will determine whether the project is ever permitted, council members said. But the council also wants its concerns heard by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issued the draft EIS in April. Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Ohlson said he is determined to see NISP and Glade stopped. The city's concerns with the Glade proposal include: > The project's impact on water quality in the river and Horsetooth Reservoir and the cost of upgrading treatment plants > The potential cost of upgrading wastewater treatment facilities that may be required by decreased flows in the Poudre > Inadequate analysis of the project's effect on vegetation and wildlife along the river More coverage from The Loveland Reporter Herald. They write: Fears of poor drinking water quality and negative effects to the environment and recreational opportunities along the Cache la Poudre River led Fort Collins officials to voice their opposition Tuesday night to the Northern Integrated Supply Project. The Fort Collins City Council adopted a resolution 6-0 instructing City Manager Darin Atteberry to submit comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stating the council's opposition to the project as it is currently described in the draft environmental impact statement. Councilor Wade Troxell was absent. "There are major, major negative impacts on Fort Collins," said Mayor Doug Hutchinson, adding that city officials hope their comments would be taken seriously because the resolution did not express full opposition to the project... City staff members believe that the project poses "substantial" and "grave" threats to the city's drinking water quality because of high levels of total organic carbon and other contaminants if water is transferred from Glade to Horsetooth Reservoir, according to a report to the City Council. The reduction of flows and degradation of water quality from the Poudre River could cost the city millions to install expensive advanced wastewater treatment systems at the city's two wastewater facilities, Stokes said. Another concern is the potential effects on the environment and wildlife along the Poudre because of reduced flows. Reduced flows could also have negative effects on recreational use of the Poudre, such as tubing and a proposed whitewater park, staff said. Brian Werner, spokesman for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, said he thought it was premature for the City Council to pass a resolution opposing the Northern Integrated Supply Project, because there hadn't been any conversations about what could be done to mitigate the effects. "We think it's a project that is necessary for the region to address," he said. "We want to work with you on this." Here's a recap of Tuesday's Larimer County Commissioners meeting from Loveland Reporter-Herald. From the article: A two-page letter outlining concerns about the proposed Glade Reservoir is "inadequate," Larimer County Commissioner Randy Eubanks said. He rejected the proposed letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a public meeting Tuesday, saying it needs more substance. "The comments we received from the public were ignored," Eubanks said of the letter, given to the three commissioners by Doug Ryan, the county's environmental planner. "The comments by the (county) boards and commissions were ignored." He suggested waiting another week to consider a beefed up letter of opposition and listening to city residents at the Fort Collins City Council meeting later Tuesday evening. His fellow commissioners, Kathay Rennels and Glenn Gibson agreed to wait a week before voting on the letter of opposition. The letter criticizes the draft environmental impact statement for the reservoir Northern Water wants to build northwest of Fort Collins... The proposed county letter mentions the loss of habitat and streamflow and also alleges an incomplete evaluation of moving U.S. 287. Each commissioner agreed to forward his or her specific concerns to Ryan, who will rework the letter before next Tuesday. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 5:34:43 PM     Eastern Colorado drought Here's an update on the drought in eastern Colorado, from The Colorado Springs Gazette. From the article, "The consecutive days of precipitation in August produced more than an inch of rain more than the normal 3.48 inches. "It was a very good month, precipitation-wise," said Mark Wankowski, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo. September's normal precipitation of 1.23 inches won't be enough to compensate for the near 7-inch precipitation deficit the region has seen since Jan. 1." Category: Colorado Water 6:12:35 AM     Fountain Creek management U.S. Senator Ken Salazar will host this week's meeting of the Fountain Creek Task Force, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: Nearly two years after urging Colorado Springs and Pueblo to work together on making Fountain Creek a "Crown Jewel," U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is checking in on the progress. The Colorado Democrat will host a meeting Thursday in Colorado Springs to talk with members of the Fountain Creek Vision Task Force about what they've accomplished. The meeting will be 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments office, 15 S. Seventh St., Colorado Springs... Salazar called for the Crown Jewel Project just one week prior to the full task force's first meeting in late September 2006. His staff had interviewed many of the players in the Fountain Creek discussions and drawn up a loose outline of how trails, parks, open lands and drainage improvements could be woven together to turn Fountain Creek into an asset, rather than a liability. Salazar's staff has continued to play a big role in the task force and its committees, which have met several times each month for most of the two years. The task force is wrapping up reports on water quality and quantity, environment and land use for its strategic plan. The group has also been discussing the possibility of forming an authority that would fund some of the major improvements it has identified as needed on Fountain Creek... In the meantime, progress has been made in several other areas: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed a study of projects in its Fountain Creek Watershed Plan, looking at 15 projects to improve wetlands, bank stability and channel capacity. The Corps ruled out a dam site just north of Pueblo that had been identified in a 1970s study, but considered only flood control, not a multipurpose dam or series of dams. The Corps indicated support to improve the effectiveness of levees through Pueblo. The Fountain Creek Foundation formed independently of the vision task force. It plans to raise funds for demonstration projects designed to help people reconnect to Fountain Creek. Colorado Springs and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District are working on a Fountain Creek Master Plan that will look at ways to improve drainage during minor flooding and reduce bank erosion and sedimentation problems in Fountain Creek. Although both entities are represented on the task force, the master plan is being developed independently. Colorado Springs has implemented its stormwater enterprise, which it formed in late 2005, but did not fund until 2007. A ballot issue this year, backed by State Rep. Doug Bruce, seeks to gut the funding of the enterprise by making fee collection voluntary. Fountain Creek has also been identified as a land-use issue in the pending application Colorado Springs submitted to Pueblo County for its Southern Delivery System, a pipeline project to fill future water needs for Security, Fountain and Pueblo West. The Vision Task Force consensus committee also will meet this week, from noon to 4 p.m. Friday at Fountain City Hall. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 6:06:00 AM     Northern Integrated Supply Project As expected, the Fort Collins City Council weighed in in opposition to the proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project and Glade Reservoir last night, according to 9News.com. From the article: The city of Fort Collins has a message for the Army Corps of Engineers: it doesn't want the Northern Integrated Supply Project, at least not as it's proposed. The $350 million project includes the controversial Glade Reservoir, which would draw and store water from the Poudre River. More than 30 residents showed up at Tuesday's City Council meeting to express their concerns. Opponents say the project endangers the environment, although in April, the Army Corps of Engineers said in its draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the environmental impacts would be minimal. The city of Fort Collins and its scientists disagree. "Those impacts will be felt over decades, potentially, and we think those impacts will be quite profound," said John Stokes, director of natural resources for the city... The Fort Collins City Council voted Tuesday night to approve a resolution opposing the project as it stands now. The resolution doesn't carry any weight [^] the city doesn't have the power to stop the reservoir. Tuesday's resolution allows city staff to submit comments to the Army Corps of Engineers. Sept. 13 is the deadline to comment on the draft EIS. The Army Corps of Engineers will weigh the arguments and make a final decision. More coverage from The North Forty News. From the article: On Aug. 25, the Larimer County Commissioners hashed out a number of fine points in the draft environmental impact statement for NISP, the Northern Integrated Supply Project. The water-supply project proposes construction of Glade Reservoir northwest of LaPorte and a second reservoir, Galeton, in Weld County. The commissioners will submit their comments about the project to the permitting agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is anticipated that they will approve final language for the comments at their Sept. 9 meeting. Fort Collins will also submit comments, and the city council is scheduled to discuss the issue on Sept. 2. The public comment deadline is Sept. 13. At the August work session, commissioners did not state whether they favored NISP as a whole or not. Rather, they reviewed comments from numerous advisory boards and county departments regarding the EIS and decided which concerns should be forwarded to the Army Corps.Commissioners agreed that NISP is not consistent with two themes of the Larimer County Master Plan, those designating the mouth of the Poudre Canyon and the U.S. Highway 287 corridor as important natural resource areas. That comment will be forwarded to the Army Corps. Gibson said one issue not addressed in the EIS is the possibility that if NISP is not approved, "this (Poudre River) water may go away, anyway," to other water users with junior rights. The commissioners will ask for several mitigations if NISP is permitted. They want spring surges and minimum winter flows to be required for the Poudre River, along with mitigations for water quality, river morphology, ecology and recreation. The final EIS, commissioners said, also needs to better address problems of geology, soil constraints and chemical leakage from the Atlas Missile Silo at the proposed Glade Reservoir site. Commissioners will ask the Corps to consider how changes in river flow would impact mosquito populations, especially with regard to West Nile virus. Cumulative impacts of NISP and the proposed Halligan/Seaman reservoir expansion project are also of concern to commissioners, as well as impacts from pipelines proposed for NISP. Pipelines would connect Glade with Horsetooth Reservoir and Carter Lake. Commissioners will also recommend that NISP participants be required to implement water conservation measures so that water from the project is used wisely. More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here. Category: Colorado Water 5:52:58 AM

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