The semi annual Bear River Commission Meeting was held in Boise to see the new Idaho Water Center. The meeting is really two days of committee meetings (where things get discussed in detail) and culminates with a general commission meeting that summarizes everything. This article will follow the format of the general commission meeting (without all the introductions, approval of agenda, reading of minutes, etc) but will include all the pertinent discussion that was covered in the individual committee meetings.

Consideration of Storage - Idaho Representative Eulalie Langford asked the Commission for a letter of support requesting Federal help to have the Corps of Engineers study flood control sites upstream of Bear Lake. Commission members deferred action but will have the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) look into the PacifiCorp historic practice of dumping Bear Lake water to 5918 ft. for flood control. This will also be on the April Commission agenda. Bear Lake Watch stated their support of the study and further asked the Commission to take a leadership role in studying the entire Bear River Basin to make the basin as efficient as possible considering flood control, storage, water quality and conservation.

PacifiCorp – Connely Baldwin gave the statistics for the 2004 water year.
2003 Low Elevation 5904.10 ft. Nov. 10, 2003
2004 High Elevation 5905.72 ft. May 16, 2004
2004 Low Elevation 5903.09 ft. Oct. 27, 2004
Current Lake Level 5903.33 ft. Nov. 15, 2004

2004 Irrigation Allocation 85,000 acre feet
2004 Storage release 77,050 acre feet
Storage Saved (left in Bear Lake) 7,950 acre feet

The twice weekly conference calls between PacifiCorp and the water users resulted in very efficient use of the limited amount of storage water. Although West Cache Canal Co and the Utah Small Pumpers used their entire allotment, both Last Chance and the Bear River Canal Co. had unused storage water that was left in the lake. The big rain storms in late May and in August saved to day.
The Dietrich Decree stipulates some natural flow down the Bear River. It is 50 cfs from Apr 20 to July 1, 35 cfs from July 1 to July 15, 25 cfs from July 15 to Aug 1, and 15 cfs from Aug 1 to Sept 15. This could necessitate pumping from Bear Lake when the lake is below 5904 ft. and the allocation is “0”.
It is way too early to make predictions about next year. If it is repeat of 2003, there will be very little allocation.
There are no plans to dredge at Lifton.
The Amended Bear Lake Settlement Agreement was signed in May by PacifiCorp, the Irrigators and the Bear Lake groups. A copy was included in the Commission minutes.

Water Quality – There are new DEQ representatives from each state. Idaho – Barry Birnell, Utah – Walt Baker, Wyoming – John Wagner. Walt Baker will serve as Chairman and Barry Birnell as the Vice-chair.
Mitch Poulsen gave a report on the Bear River Water Quality Task Force. The Task Force will hold a Jan 25th meeting to consolidate data about all water quality projects that have occurred on the Bear River. This will include all 319 grant money and EQIP money. Claudia Cottle has been contracted to develop a website for the Task Force. This will be coordinated with the Utah State WIS website. The EPA grant will provide funding to update and expand the CIRRUS project.
The Commission has signed the EPA Watershed Initiative grant. It is for 3 years and $700,000 with an additional 3 months to complete and finalize reports. The Commission will be the administrator. There will be a Dec 8-9 kick off meeting at USU. There are three basic components of the grant.
1. Utah State Univ. to develop a Watershed Information System (WIS) that will compile all data about the Bear River Basin on a web based program.
2. Idaho National Environmental Lab (INEL) to develop a water quality model of the Bear River Basin.
3. Utah State to develop a pollution trading model based on the water quality model.
The US Dept of Agriculture has awarded a $645,000 grant to investigate weather all the money spent on water quality has made any long term improvement. The study will focus on the effectiveness of the TMDL process and BMPs (Best Management Practices) used on the Little Bear where there is very good documentation.
The Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge has received a grant to form a St. Charles Unit of the Refuge. This would isolate the waters of Saint Charles Creek from the rest of Mud Lake and keep the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout from getting lost downstream.
The Idaho TMDL list should be on the Idaho web site by Thanksgiving.
There is a tentative settlement on dismantling the Cove power plant. No details yet.

Operations Committee –
Because Bear Lake is below 5911, there will be no storage allowed under the Amended Compact – just under the original Compact and pre-Compact. (Same as last year)
The Utah Small Pumpers have organized and have an attorney. It is hoped that they will develop an internal delivery schedule. They may (re)join BRWUA and become signatures to the Bear Lake Settlement Agreement.
Pete Peterson presently administers the Idaho Small Pumpers. They are not (yet) organized but PacifiCorp is encouraging them to do so and to be represented by BRWUA.
Currently the Gentile Canal Co. allocation is part of the Idaho Small Pumpers allocation.
There was a discussion on the Bear Lake Eco-Symposium held in September at Bear Lake. USU Assoc. Professor Joanna Endter-Wada has initiated a study titled Drought Management: Social and Policy Options for Water Management under Drought Conditions. The study is a result of one of the Symposium challenges.

Records & Public Involvement –
Automation – The pace of automating the Bear River Basin stream flows and diversions has been remarkable. The farmers and ranchers have been open and willing to automate and have real time data available to the public and their peers. The goal is to automate all diversions on the Bear River that are in the model. The data is displayed on www.bearriverbasin.org. The Woodruff Narrows Reservoir Co has completed automation of the river and diversions in the Utah section of the upper division. Wyoming is proceeding quickly to automate the Cokeville area. In the Lower Division, PacifiCorp is working with Last Chance Canal Co, West Cache and Gentile Valley Canal to automate 90% of the diversions. Funding for the lower division automation is 1/3 from the individual irrigators, 1/3 from BRWUA and 1/3 from Bureau of Reclamation. The 90 Utah Small Pumpers will be automated if funding can be found, using radio or cell phones to show on/off status of each pump. Each pump is rated. PacifiCorp is also automating the elevations of the 4 reservoirs. Presently there are no plans to automate the elevations of Bear Lake and Mud Lake (since they are not in the model). The gauges at the Rainbow Canal and the Outlet will be automated.
In 1990 all data was compiled post mortem. ie. in November after the irrigation season. Automation will give users a more efficient water management tool due to better, more timely data. It will also lead to an improved understanding of the system and how it works and a better acceptance by all.

State Reports –
Utah – The Utah legislature has two task forces working on water issues. One deals with Water Rights Issues and the other is to find funding for the Bear River Development Project.
Wyoming - Former Commissioner John Teichert is in Casper seeking support for level 2 funding (ie. forming a taxing entity) for a proposed reservoir on the Smith’s Fork The Wyoming legislature is also investigating minimum stream flows, proposing stronger penalties for violators of the water code and trying to become more IT based and use less paperwork.
Idaho – Idaho is facing a major problem as senior right spring water users are filing suit against more junior right ground water users alleging that the ground water users are reducing the flows of the springs.

Next Bear River Commission meeting - April 19th 2005