In March, the U.S. Forest Service issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement addressing issuance of a land use authorization for the Long Draw Reservoir, located on La Poudre Pass Creek in the Cache la Poudre headwaters.  The EIS is the latest development in a long debate about the reservoir's permits and the issue of minimum "bypass flows" for existing water projects on National Forests.  (What's a bypass flow?)

Long Draw Reservoir captures water from La Poudre Pass and more notably deliveries of Colorado River basin water from the transbasin Grand Ditch, and releases water for irrigation deliveries during the irrigation season.  The dam is closed each winter, with no downstream releases made throughout the winter months.  When the Forest Service originally issued an easement for the project in the mid-1990s, TU filed suit in federal court challenging the Forest Service's action for its failure to include terms and conditions that minimized damage to fish and wildlife as required under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA).  While the case was pending, there were multiple legislative battles in the U.S. Congress over whether the Forest Service should maintain authority to require minimum "bypass flows".  The controversy bubbled for years until ultimately the Court agreed with TU's argument and remanded the Forest Service's decision back to the agency for new action consistent with FLPMA.  After an appeal of that decision was dismissed, the new draft EIS was prepared by the Forest Service under the remand.

The Draft EIS lays out four alternatives for issuance of the land use authorization by the Forest Service:

1. No Action.  The existing permit would be reissued with no minimum flow requirements or other new terms for protection of fish and wildlife.
2. Minimum bypass flows would be required for 2.5 cfs throughout the winter, as well as ramping rates in the summer to help protect fish (i.e., guidelines on how fast releases would be increased or decreased).
3. In lieu of flow mitigation, the permittee would lead efforts to restore native greenback cutthroat trout in 45 miles of the Cache la Poudre headwaters, helping restore greenbacks across the watershed (including in the reservoir) and creating the largest connected set of populations of native trout in Colorado.
4. In lieu of winter flow mitigation on La Poudre Pass Creek, the permittee would bypass water from two sites on the Grand Ditch to help restore wetlands in the Kawuneeche Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park in the Colorado River headwaters.

The Forest Service has identified alternative 3 as its "preferred alternative."  CTU has also expresed support for that approach in the past.  While we generally prefer to see flow mitigation for affected stream reaches, the nature of La Poudre Pass Creek's channel - modified by years of imported flow from the Colorado - is such that minimum winter flows likely would provide less benefit than would the ambitious native trout restoration program contemplated under alternative 3.

Under the Forest Service's preferred alternative, greenbacks (like these in Fern Lake) could be restored to 45 miles of the Cache la Poudre headwaters.

Native fish experts encourage larger-scale restoration efforts so as to establish what are called "metapopulations" - a series of connected populations across multiple streams.  The reason is that small, local populations can be very vulnerable to environmental catastrophes such as wildfire, mudslides, or other measures that could wipe out a fishery in a particular location.  By having a larger connected network of populations, fish from adjacent areas can naturally recolonize those locations that suffer such a catastrophe.  This makes long-term survival of the species much more likely, because they have a larger and more stable habitat base and the ability for genetic inter-flow between the populations.  Alternative 3 represents the first effort to create such a greenback "metapopulation" and would be the largest native trout restoration effort ever undertaken in Colorado.

CTU plans to work with the owners of Long Draw Reservoir, Water Supply and Storage Company, and with other interested partners, to seek a consensus approach in resolving what has been a long-standing controversy.  We hope that an issue that has been marked by conflict can ultimately be resolved through cooperation.

Copies of the Draft EIS can be seen online at the Forest Service's Long Draw EIS website (click here). 

Comments are being accepted through May 4; however, CTU has joined the Water Supply and Storage Company and the City of Greeley in requesting a 60-day extension to allow more time for careful review of the Draft EIS.