Wyoming State Water Plan
Wyoming State Water Plan
Wyoming Water Development Office
6920 Yellowtail Rd
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7626
Wyoming Water Development Office
6920 Yellowtail Rd
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7626
Welcome
Facilitator Sherri Gregory welcomed the group and the meeting was
called to order at 6:05 p.m. All attendees introduced themselves,
followed by a review of the overall meeting agenda. A sign-in sheet was
passed around to record attendance. The next meeting is scheduled for
November 18 in Cody at 3:00 p.m.
Water Development Commission Report
Barry Lawrence updated the BAG on the status of the plans for the other
basins. The BAGs for the Powder/Tongue and Northeast Wyoming Basins
will be meeting July 16 in Kaycee and July 17 in Lusk. Open houses for
the Platte River Basin were held June 2 – 4 in Saratoga, Douglas and
Pine Bluffs. Barry discussed the status of all basin studies, and
agendas for future meetings.
The National Weather Service in the
Wind/Bighorn Basin
Joe Sullivan and Melissa Smith of the National Weather Service (NWS)
presented an overview of their agency. The NWS, which is affiliated
with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has 123
offices nationwide with 13 river basin centers. The Riverton office
serves this basin. NWS information can be accessed through the NOAA
weather radio, the national website http://www.nws.noaa.gov
or
http://weather.gov, the local website
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/riw,
or
by telephone (800)211-1448 or locally (307)857-3898. Of particular
interest on the national website are the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction
Service (AHPS), Hazardous Weather Outlooks, 7 day advance forecasts,
radar images, and climatological data. The Riverton office website
includes local and regional weather information as well as satellite
imagery and warnings.
Joe requested that the public assist the NWS by reporting observed severe weather conditions, including tornadoes, flooding, large hail, damaging winds, heavy snow, or dense fog to the Riverton office.
Fremont
County Drought Task Force (1923 kb PDF)
Kim Lee, Fremont County Emergency Management Agency, presented an
overview of the Fremont County’s Drought Task Force and local
interaction with the Statewide Governor’s Drought Task Force. Fremont
County is experiencing the fourth year of drought and has been under
disaster guidelines since 2001. Priority has been given to developing
an effective task force in Fremont County, which reports to the Fremont
County Commissioners. The steps in this process are to appoint a task
force, inventory the resources, develop an organizational structure,
publicize the proposed plan, and form subgroups to work on specific
issues. The issues to be addressed are wildfire mitigation,
agriculture, tribal concerns, health and safety, economic impacts,
drought proofing, damage assessment, and the development of action
plans. The focus is to create a task force made up of sub-working
groups with specific strategies and targets to create a community
action plan that will solve local drought problems. This local group
was patterned after the Governor’s Drought Task Force, with a vision of
creating a “drought proof” county. More information on the drought in
Fremont County can be found at
http://www.fremontcounty.org/drought.htm.
Salt Cedar in the Bighorn
Laura Hudson, University of Wyoming, Botany Department, presented an
overview of salt cedar and eradication efforts in the Bighorn Canyon
National Recreation Area. Salt cedar is a riparian shrub from Eurasia.
Laura pointed out that cottonwood trees and salt cedar both require a
moist area to become established, produce an abundance of seeds, and
can grow, flower, and seed in water. However, salt cedar is superior in
that it is salt tolerant, can tolerate an inundated water condition as
well as drought, taps deeply into the water table, and comes to seed
continually from May through October.
Kirby
Creek Watershed Plan (1737 kb PDF)
Evan Simpson and Jason Linford, Sunrise Engineering, stated that the
Kirby Creek Watershed Plan is a Level I reconnaissance planning effort.
Management recommendations must be based on thorough technical
analysis, be environmentally sound and be financially feasible. A
description and inventory of the basin, including basin geology and
hydrology, land use, stream channels, irrigation systems, water
quality, and water storage will be mapped. A biological assessment will
be performed and baseline data on all management activities that affect
surface erosion, sedimentation and water flow will be obtained. Cost
estimates and financing options will also be computed. Discussion
followed.
The meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m.