Channel maintenance flows, as used in this paper, are streamflows needed to maintain a river channel in a healthy condition with a functioning aquatic and riparian ecosystem.  This paper presents an overview of the computational process of determine the channel maintenance flows for the Cache la Poudre River in Colorado (USA).  There are five elements of channel maintenance flows; these are 1) flushing flows required to remove fines from the substrate of a river, 2) streamflows that maintain sediment movement in the river, 3) streamflows required to control unwanted growth of vegetation in the stream channel, 4) streamflows required to maintain the riparian vegetation, and 5) streamflows required to maintain the channel form.  Of these five elements the first three are reasonably well defined but the last two are problematic.  The literature suggests the channel form is maintained by the median annual peak discharge but this is far from the truth for the Poudre River.  If alga growths are included in the management of unwanted vegetation the third element becomes problematic as well.  The computational process and the results for each of the elements are presented in the paper.