Settlement clears way for NISP construction, Poudre improvements

Nearly two decades of wrangling over a massive proposed water project in Northern Colorado have ended with a settlement between the water district that wants to build it and the environmental group that has fought to stop it.

The agreement signed late Friday between the Berthoud-based Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and Fort Collins-based nonprofit Save The Poudre clears the way for construction of the $2.25 billion Northern Integrated Supply Project and establishes a fund to protect the Cache la Poudre River.

“This is a milestone day for the communities participating in the project,” Brad Wind, general manager of the district locally known as Northern Water said in a prepared statement. “The settlement agreement will close the permitting process for the project, open the door to constructing a project that will deliver much-needed water supplies to vibrant communities, and allow for dozens of large-scale riverine investments in and along the Poudre River.”

Added Carl Brouwer, NISP’s program manager, “This added investment to the river will complement the mitigation and enhancements identified by the involved permitting agencies.”

Gary Wockner, who has directed Save The Poudre since its inception, noted in a media release that, “for 20 years, we have brought attention to the plight of the Poudre River and the impacts on the river that would be caused by NISP. We are pleased to have reached this agreement, and we look forward to putting the Improvement Fund to work for the health of the river and all of the people who love and enjoy the river in northern Colorado.”

Under the agreement, Save the Poudre will end its 20-year opposition to the project and withdraw the lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it filed in January 2024 over the Corps’ issuance of a permit to NISP. In exchange, project participants will contribute $100 million over the next two decades to create a “Poudre River Improvement Fund” to benefit the river from the mouth of Poudre Canyon to its confluence with the South Platte River near Greeley.

The fund is likely to be held in trust at the NoCo Foundation — formerly the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado — and the NISP Water Activity Enterprise will pay into it, with the first payment of $5 million to be made next week.

The money will be available for projects and initiatives designed to improve the river for recreational uses, wildlife, water quality and more.

NISP is part of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District’s plan to secure 40,000 acre feet of water per year to 15 growing cities and water districts throughout the Front Range and Northern Colorado.

However, the project’s potential impact on the flow of the Cache la Poudre River through Fort Collins was one of the primary points of contention as NISP worked its way through the study and permitting process. Save the Poudre fought NISP in and out of the courts, and in September 2015, just after Larimer County commissioners expressed support for the project, the Fort Collins City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing it.

According to Save The Poudre’s media release, the $100 million pact “is likely one of the largest river conservation settlements in U.S. history for a river its size and can provide benefits to the Poudre River from Gateway Park in Poudre Canyon all the way to the confluence with the South Platte River east of Greeley about 50 river miles downstream. The agreement specifically supports the potential creation of a ‘Poudre River Water Trail’ that could transform the river into a recreational amenity for tubing, fishing and boating from Gateway Park downstream to Eastman Park in Windsor.”

According to Save The Poudre, “the fund is separate from, and in addition to, the money already committed by NISP in its 2017 Mitigation and Enhancement Plan.”

Under the agreement, a fund committee will oversee and direct all of the expenditures, with Save The Poudre and the NISP Enterprise appointing three members each.

Mark Easter, who has chaired Save The Poudre’s board since it was founded, will be one of the three people appointed by Save The Poudre. Wockner will remain as director of Save The Poudre and continue directing the organization’s programs.

“I am looking forward to working with the Fund Committee to achieve the best outcomes for the health of the Poudre River and the communities that depend upon it,” Easter, an ecologist who recently retired from Colorado State University, said in a prepared statement.

Northern Water had received the Corps of Engineers permit in 2023 after two decades of work showing the need for the project. According to a Northern Water news release, the mitigation requirements in the permit will remain, with the settlement funding adding projects beyond those outlined in the various permit documents issued for the project.

When complete, the project will include Glade Reservoir northwest of Fort Collins, a forebay and pump plant below that reservoir’s dam, Galeton Reservoir northeast of Greeley, 50 miles of buried pipelines to convey water to project participants, four additional pump plants, improved diversions on the Poudre River to allow fish passage and a requirement to convey 30% of the NISP water downstream for added benefit to the Poudre River.

According to Northern Water, a section of U.S. Highway 287 will be rerouted around Glade Reservoir at the expense of project participants.

Construction of a fish passage at Watson Lake northwest of Fort Collins and a wetlands area at Eastman Park in Windsor has already occurred, Northern Water said, adding that work on the remaining pipeline segments, the relocation of U.S. 287 and the Glade Reservoir dam is projected to begin in 2026, with construction at Galeton Reservoir occurring after the completion of Glade Reservoir.

The 15 communities and water providers participating in NISP include Erie, Fort Morgan, Windsor, Frederick, Lafayette, Firestone, Dacono, Evans, Fort Lupton, Severance and Eaton, as well as the Fort Collins-Loveland, Left Hand, Central Weld County and Morgan County Quality water districts.

Those 15 members were asked in January to collectively come up with more than $33 million this year to fund continued planning and design and legal work for the ongoing water project. The 2025 agreement is the 21st in which participants pay their share of the project costs.

However, Friday’s agreement ends the need for a substantial portion of those legal costs.

“Given the specifics of NISP and our federal court case against it, we strongly believe that this agreement is the best outcome we could achieve on behalf of our members, the people of northern Colorado, and the Poudre River itself,” Wockner said. “The Poudre River is smack in the middle of one of the fastest growing areas of the U.S., and it will take hard work, creativity and a lot of money to keep the Poudre alive. This $100 million is a strong step in the right direction, and we encourage other stakeholders and the philanthropic community to help us leverage this money for even bigger improvements to ensure that Fort Collins and northern Colorado will continue to have a river running through it.”

The case the environmental group dropped is Save the Poudre, a Colorado nonprofit corporation, v. Lt. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon, in his official capacity as the chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Case No. 1:24-cv-00235-KAS in U.S. District Court for Colorado.

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