GREEN RIVER BASIN PLAN II
BAG Meeting No. 5
Meeting Notes
July 31, 2008 6:00PM
Town Hall
Marbleton, WY

The meeting generally followed the format of the agenda distributed by the WWDO:

1. Introductions

Earl Degroot, Facilitator on the Planning Team, introduced the team and presented several logistical details about the meeting.

2. Description and purpose of meeting

Earl presented a power point slideshow outlining the purpose of the planning process, explaining the handouts at the meeting, and the methods through which the State and Planning Team was collecting input. That presentation is available at waterplan.state.wy.us

3. Consultant update

Murray Schroeder presented information and exhibits' showing the progress the consulting team has made making population projections in the basin. That information is available at waterplan.state.wy.us.

Information he presented included a couple of figures showing population projections, several figures presenting the forecasted water needs for the municipal, industrial and domestic water use sectors. In addition, a couple of exhibits were presented that illustrated some preliminary work on Task 3 - Availability.

4. Presentations

1. Ron Vore, WWDO, presented on the subject of the Level I Watershed Studies.
   • His presentation included an overview of other agencies and how they approached watershed planning.
   • Ron provided a handout that outlined the various components of a study, including Literature review, Watershed Inventory, Surveying,. Management and Rehabilitation Planning, Funding Sources and Permitting
   • His spent a considerable amount of time describing and showing the level of detail that the WWDO program provided.
   • Ron fielded a couple of questions from the audience from parties that appeared to have interest in promoting a study in the basin.

   General Audience Participation

   In addition to the above presentation, after a break, the group conducted a facilitated discussion on a water use issue raised by Mr. Dan Budd. Dan stated that the most important issue in the basin is related to protecting Wyoming's water so that it is available for future use in Wyoming. That issue became the focal point for the next 30 minutes in which we attempted to identify strategies that would address that issue. The following strategies were explored:

   • Make broader definition of the term beneficial use. This would require law change. Include the act of storing water itself as a beneficial use.
   • Review if the Purpose and Need definitions need to be re-defined. This discussion was similar to the item above.
   • Increase our political effectiveness by educating political officials.
   • Related to the above comment, is the idea of making better use of the Joint Powers Board to get to the County Commissioners. In other words, to be politically effective, BAG should lean on JPB, which has county commissioners representation.
   • Green River Basin specific solutions need to be aware that there is a statewide view of water resources.
   • Evaluate watershed improvement district structure as a means of improving effectiveness.
   • Perform basin wide watershed like/level Studies
   • Partner with non-traditional water users (such as oil and gas industry) to develop projects that benefit the industry (like mitigation for habitat loss), while at the same time use water (example given - guzzlers for wildlife)

2. John Shields - SEO Office gave an update on several Colorado River Basin topics. That presentation is available at waterplan.state.wy.us

3. John Shields also gave a presentation on Perry Wilson Jenkins, a prominent historical figure of the Pinedale Area.