State agencies recommend new in‑stream flow right for East Fork Roaring Creek in Larimer County

Larimer County commissioners heard a presentation Oct. 20 from state water agencies recommending a new in‑stream flow water right for East Fork Roaring Creek, a tributary of the Poudre River near Cameron Pass, intended to help sustain fisheries including greenback cutthroat trout.

Mariel Bridal, a hydrologist with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), and Katie Birch, an instream flow specialist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), described the recommendation and the multi‑year state process for creating new in‑stream flow rights. The recommending entity for this reach is CPW; the CWCB is the state agency that would hold any new in‑stream flow appropriation on behalf of Colorado.

The agencies described biological field work and hydraulic modeling used to quantify flows that would “preserve the natural environment to a reasonable degree,” language the presenters said derives from the statute that created the program. CPW biologists reported field measurements from riffle cross sections and recommended roughly 1.0 cubic foot per second (cfs) for winter/base flows and about 2.9 cfs for higher summer flows at the East Fork site to meet the biological criteria…