RE: American Whitewater’s CWCB Water Plan Grant American Whitewater (AW) is in the process of developing a grant application for the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s (CWCB) Colorado Water Plan Grant. This Grant would provide funding to complete the development and implementation of an economic impact analysis tool that can be utilized by local governments, Chamber of Commerce, business owners, NGOs, community members, and other groups to identify river recreation’s impacts on local economies. We recognize direct impacts from river recreation, solely, does not compare in magnitude to impacts from irrigated agriculture or suburban expansion. In addition to the direct and indirect impacts from water- based recreation, we propose to review synergistic opportunities, identified by basin roundtables and local stakeholders, that have the potential to expand and/or preserve flow conditions that support river recreation throughout the state. This will provide a tool for parties with interests that either directly or indirectly allow more water to freely flow downstream to assess an economic metric of recreation in their decision making. Synergistic opportunities may include, though are not limited to: ● Ecosystem preservation and endangered fish species protection ● Colorado River Basin Compact actions ● Water banking and other alternative transfer mechanisms ● Sustainable Front Range suburban growth ● The transfer or sale of water rights from retiring industries AW is a national non-profit 501(c)(3) river conservation organization founded in 1954 with over 6,000 national dues-paying members, 100 local-based affiliate clubs, and 50,000 supporters representing whitewater enthusiasts across the nation. American Whitewater’s mission is to protect and restore America’s whitewater rivers and to enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely. Over the past year, AW has worked in partnership with the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office to develop this methodology with a team of graduate students from the University of Colorado Boulder. The initial methodology used the Dolores River as a case study. Additionally, our consultants, Lynker Technologies, have provided initial support to develop processes for analyzing the effect of synergistic opportunities, climatic changes, and population increase on recreation. To further develop this analysis tool, we are proposing to employ an initial analysis using this methodology on a number of river basins. AW will be focusing on four different river basins to further build out this work ● Dolores River (Below McPhee Reservoir to the state line) ● Yampa River (From Craig through Little Yampa Canyon) ● Crystal & Roaring Fork River (Marble to Carbondale and Aspen to Glenwood Springs) ● Poudre River (Poudre Canyon & Poudre River Whitewater Park) AW will be partnering these analyses with existing and new recreational streamflow preference and boatable days studies, as identified in the CWCB nonconsumptive toolbox. This will provide water managers, local officials and businesses with metrics of flow preferences, existing river recreation opportunities, and what that means for economic influence of those opportunities. This data will provide localities with a comprehensive understanding of how river recreation impacts the local and county economies, and provide a more in-depth understanding in decision making of recreational resources within these watersheds. The well documented outdoor recreation economy is an integral economic diversifier across the state. Developing this economic impact analysis along the Dolores River will allow AW and its partners the ability to work with a broad stakeholder coalition to help identify this currently unknown economic information. The Dolores River has a well-documented legacy for its beauty and adventure, by highlighting the recreational economic impact the Dolores provides, will help the entire southwest region diversify its economy, highlight the community values for conservation, and empower the towns of Dolores, Mancos, Cortez, and many others in the region to grow in a way that they deem appropriate. In order to accomplish this work, AW is seeking out a Colorado Water Plan grant request of $61,640 in Environmental & Recreation Grant funding for the first year of implementation. The budget projections for year two are in progress. Name of Water Project: Economic Impact and Flow Preference of River Recreation Grant Task Match Task Description Start Date End Date Funding Total No. Funding Request Year 1 1 Set flow preferences and 2/1/2021 3/1/2021 $2,000.00 $19,050.00 boatable day baseline that support river recreation. $21,050 Develop economic ecosystem profiles for the Cache La 2 Poudre, Crystal, Dolores, 2/1/2021 7/1/2021 Roaring Fork, and Yampa Rivers. $15,000 $16,200 $31,200 Identify synergistic opportunities and their economic implications 3 2/1/2021 10/1/2021 to recreation and other sectors in each basin. $30,000 $25,000 $55,000 Produce a memo that describes the economic ecosystem and 4 10/1/2021 12/1/2021 applicable synergistic opportunities fin each basin $5,500 $2,000 $7,500 Complete reporting requirements 5 2/1/2021 1/15/2022 to the CWCB $1,100 $0 $1,100 6 Project Coordination 2/1/2021 1/15/2022 $8,040 $9,338 $17,378 Total Year $61,640.00 $71,587.50 $133,228 1 Year 2 Analyze ecosystem elements and synergistic opportunities 7 based on coordination with 12/1/2021 5/1/2022 roundtables, stakeholders, and local communities $10,000 $10,000 $20,000 Gather data on non-commercial 8 3/1/2022 10/1/2022 river recreation use $5,000 $2,000 $7,000 Analyze baseline economic impact of river recreation for the 9 Cache La Poudre, Crystal, 7/1/2022 11/1/2022 Dolores, Roaring Fork and Yampa Rivers. $10,000 $10,000 $20,000 Develop a report for each basin describing the economic impacts 10 11/1/2022 12/31/2022 of river recreation and which management scenarios would $2,000 $1,000 $3,000 affect those opportunities Complete reporting requirements 11 1/1/2022 12/31/2022 to the CWCB $1,100 $0 $1,100 12 Project Coordination 1/1/2022 12/31/2022 $4,215 $3,450 $7,665 Total Year 2 $32,315 $26,450 $58,765 Total $93,955 $98,038 $191,993 During the current economic downturn that the state and many local governments are facing, this work will prove to be invaluable in identifying low-cost areas for potential economic development. Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Economy was valued at $62.5 billion in 20191, and continues to grow as Coloradan’s and visitors to the state utilize outdoor recreation resources at rates we’ve never seen before. We appreciate the Southwest Basin Roundtable considering support for this grant, and look forward to working closely with the Roundtable as we implement this work on the local level. Sincerely, Hattie Johnson Southern Rockies Stewardship Director American Whitewater 1 SCORP Advisory Group and Contributors. 2019 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. State of Colorado, 2018, pp. 27–28, 2019 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. .