FORT COLLINS — Members of the Larimer County Environmental and Science Advisory Board worry the draft fish and wildlife mitigation plan for Glade Reservoir is vague about funding, lacks information on stream flows and is unclear how the river will be flushed.
The volunteers presented their findings Tuesday to the Larimer County commissioners based on the board’s review of the draft plan, which will come before the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission for a vote in early September.
Commissioners Steve Johnson, Tom Donnelly and Lew Gaiter will review the advisory board’s report and decide whether they will make any comments on the plan.
Representatives of Northern Water, the agency proposing the project, did not attend the county work session, but when contacted, offered assurances that the concerns were being addressed.
The draft wildlife plan is part of mandatory state and federal review for the permits Northern Water needs to build the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which includes Glade Reservoir northwest of Fort Collins and Galeton Reservoir in Weld County, to store 180,000 acre-feet of water that will be pulled primarily from the Poudre River during wet years.
The permitting process for the project, which has drawn strong opposition from those who worry the $860 million reservoir project will cause the Poudre River to dry up, has been underway for more than a decade.
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