Montezuma County: Don Magnuson takes the reins at the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company

From the Cortez Journal (Reid Wright):

Formerly of Eaton, Colo., Magnuson served as superintendant of The New Cache La Poudre Irrigating Co. north of Greeley…

Magnuson said he had a huge learning curve to learn about local irrigation system, which differs from the Cache La Poudre. “They’re exactly alike and completely different,” he said…

MVIC oversees a vast network of reservoirs, canals and irrigation pipelines responsible for providing water to a majority of Montezuma County. “Without MVIC we would have no Cortez,” [MVIC President Randy Carver] said.

More Montezuma County coverage here.

NWS: U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook

Here’s the link to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center Expert Assessments and their Drought Assessment page. Click on the thumbnail graphic to the right for the most recent map.

The California-based Newport Trial Group is spearheading a class action lawsuit against Fiji Water over greenwashing

From TreeHugger (Rachel Cernansky):

The California-based Newport Trial Group brought the suit in a U.S. District Court on behalf of individuals seeking restitution for these false [from greenwashing claims that its products are carbon-negative], which are thought to be responsible for a significant amount of Fiji’s increased market share.

Precipitation news

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

For the second straight day snow pummeled the high country in the San Juan Mountains, dropping 24 inches on Wolf Creek Ski Area.

From the Loveland Reporter Herald (Sarah Bultema):

Those living along the Front Range have been a bit spoiled this winter, said Nolan Doesken, a climatologist at Colorado State University…

Yet Thursday, the mild winter was buried in as many as 5 inches of snow during the first major storm of the season. A cold front coming down from Wyoming paired with a Pacific storm moving over the Rockies created snowfall that’s expected to continue through this afternoon, Doesken said.

From the Associated Press (Catherine Tsai) via the Seattle Times:

The Silverton Mountain resort in Colorado reported 22 inches of snow, but only about 120 people were on the mountain because officials closed highways leading to the ski area for avalanche control and because of adverse conditions, resort co-founder Jen Brill said…

The National Weather Service said snow could fall at a rate close to an inch an hour starting Thursday evening in the Denver area, which usually has around 25 inches of snow by this time of the season but had just 1.5 inches before Thursday.

From The Denver Post (Yesenia Robles)

A total of 3 inches had fallen by late Thursday at DIA, 5 inches in Conifer, 3.2 in Wheat Ridge and 6 inches in Ken-Caryl. Forecasters expected the snow to intensify during the night. Before Thursday, Denver had seen just 1.5 inches of snow this fall and winter. Last year, Denver had more than 11 inches of snowfall in December alone. The average total snowfall for the season by the end of December is more than 2 feet.

From The Colorado Springs Gazette (Jakob Rodgers):

Colorado Springs had received 4 to 5 inches of snow as of 7:45 p.m. Thursday, while Monument Hill and Woodland Park had recorded 5 to 8 inches of powder, said Kyle Mozley, National Weather Service meteorologist.

From The Durango Herald (Dale Rodebaugh):

In the 24 hours ending at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Coal Bank Pass received 31 inches of snow, [National Weather Service meteorologist Ellen Heffernan] said. Molas Pass got 21 inches and Red Mountain 19 inches in the same period.

Some Durango-area weather observers recorded two-day snow totals in the high teens.

- Bill Butler said 18.1 inches fell in Durango West II.

- Maureen Keilty recorded 22 inches at her home in Rafter J.

- Pam Snyder in Hesperus found 13 inches.

- Briggen Wrinkle, who reports rain and snow readings to the National Weather Service, collected 14 inches of snow in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Arkansas Valley Super Ditch update

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Called the Super Ditch, it’s not really a ditch at all. Instead, the Arkansas Valley Super Ditch is a corporation formed in 2008 that hopes to gain the support of ditch companies in the Arkansas Valley to stop the pattern of buy-and-dry that has ravaged agriculture in the valley for 60 years. The basic philosophy of the Super Ditch is to pool water rights from seven ditches to create one-stop shopping for municipalities or others hunting for water. Backers say this will lessen the chances that water rights are purchased, and the water permanently taken from the land.

A study by The Pueblo Chieftain earlier this year found that at least 145,000 acres — a third of the valley’s farmland — could be dried up if cities were using all of the agricultural rights they already have purchased.

“It may be 30 years, 100 years or 150 years, but there will be a time. . . . As short as we are on water, there will be a day when it will not be economical to run water from the Continental Divide through dirt rivers and dirt ditches to my headgate,” said Lamar farmer Dale Mauch. “You can wish and think you can make ’em go away. They’re going to keep coming because they need this water.”[...]

“If anyone in this country thinks the cities are not going to try and buy the whole thing, they haven’t been paying attention,” [John Schweizer, president of the Super Ditch] said. “This way the farmer gets to keep the water to sell as another crop.”[...]

Ray Smith, president of the Oxford Canal, was asked to resign from the Super Ditch board after he opposed the company’s application for a right to exchange water in Division 2 Water Court. Smith still contends that taking any of the water out of the river would reduce the water needed to carry water to his fields. “Once this water is removed from the river, there will be a direct effect on the amount of water and water quality to the major ditches in the Arkansas Valley,” Smith said. He also said the amount farmers are being offered in initial leases of the Super Ditch are insultingly low and the 40-year terms tie up the water too long.

Smith brought his concerns to the October meeting of the Super Ditch board, but other members argued no farmers are required to participate in any lease, and that it will be valuable in the long run to have a mechanism in place that avoids the historic buy-and-dry deals…

By the year’s end, ditch companies and their shareholders were debating the pros and cons of the Super Ditch. Interest is especially high — 80 percent or more — on the Fort Lyon Canal, which already has seen many of its shares sold to outside water interests. The Catlin Canal changed its bylaws to allow for leasing outside the ditch. The Fort Lyon, Bessemer, High Line and Holbrook canals already allow for lease programs, while the Otero will consider the proposal in January. Of the seven ditches envisioned to participate, only the Oxford has rejected the idea, although some individual shareholders of the Oxford have expressed an interest.

Be sure to click through and read Mr. Woodka’s short bio of John Schweizer.

More Super Ditch coverage here and here.

Water treatment: Oasys Water says it will test complete, large-scale systems using forward osmosis early next year

Here’s a report from MIT Technology Review (Kevin Bullis):

Oasys Water, a company that has been developing a novel, inexpensive desalination technology, showed off a new development facility in Boston this week. The company, which has been demonstrating commercial-scale components of its system in recent months, plans to begin testing a complete system early next year and to start selling the systems by the end of 2011.

Currently, desalination is done mainly in one of two ways: water is either heated until it evaporates (called a thermal process) or forced through a membrane that allows water molecules but not salt ions to pass (known as reverse osmosis). Oasys’s method uses a combination of ordinary (or forward) osmosis and heat to turn sea water into drinking water.

On one side of a membrane is sea water; on the other is a solution containing high concentrations of carbon dioxide and ammonia. Water naturally moves toward this more concentrated “draw” solution, and the membrane blocks salt and other impurities as it does so. The resulting mixture is then heated, causing the carbon dioxide and ammonia to evaporate. Fresh water is left behind, and the ammonia and carbon dioxide are captured and reused.

Oasys says the technology could make desalination economically attractive not only in arid regions where there are no alternatives to desalination, but also in places where fresh water must be transported long distances.

Thanks to Loretta Lohman for the link.

More water treatment coverage here and here.

Custer County augmentation plan update

From The Wet Mountain Tribune (Nora Drenner):

If all goes according to plan, the Custer County commissioners and Upper Arkansas Conservancy District will meet after the first of the year to talk about the implementation of a blanket water augmentation plan for the county.

More Custer County coverage here and here.

South Platte Basin: Leadville Water joint venture gets a thumbs down in water court

FromThe Fairplay Flume (Mike Potter):

According to Jim Culichia, the attorney who represented the Center of Colorado Water Conservancy District, one of six entities that challenged the application, Leadville Water sought 2 cubic feet per second of water, or about 2,880 gallons of water per day. The water was coming from the Dauntless Tunnel in between Mount Sherman and Mount Sheridan, located at the headwaters of Fourmile Creek west of Fairplay. According to Culichia, Leadville Water sought to get the water and had a contract to sell it to United Water and Sanitation for more than $20 million…

Culichia told The Flume that the water judge [James F. Hartmann] rejected the Leadville Water arguments after it failed to prove “alleged lack of any subsurface hydraulic connection between the water captured by the Dauntless Tunnel and Fourmile Creek.”[...]

The two entities in the Leadville Water joint venture are Leadville Corp., which owns the mining claims on Mount Sherman, and Dakota Water Resources, which is a Centennial-based water acquisition firm.

More South Platte Basin coverage here.

Arkansas River voluntary flow program

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

…the outfitters weren’t asking for any water. They just wanted it to come during the warm days of summer when tourism was at its peak. “What turned things around was the attitude of the Bureau of Reclamation, which in 1989-90 drained Twin Lakes for maintenance,” Dils said. The release during the summer months showed that water could be moved without damaging water rights. The details of how much water was enough for rafting or too much for fish had to be worked out.

Beginning in 1990, a voluntary flow agreement that balanced the needs of boaters and fishermen began, and it’s been renewed every year. It came a year after the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area was formed. Since the formation of the recreation area, the river has become the most heavily commercially rafted river in the world. The river has also been the site of the annual FIBArk boat races since 1949. “Colorado water law allowed for the water to be moved, and the agreement requires the state to replace the evaporative loss, so no one loses water,” Dils said.

Meanwhile the Pueblo Board of Water Works has approved the recent settlement between Pueblo County and Pueblo West in the lawsuit over the Pueblo Winter Flow Program. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

“The water board’s staff is the one group that looks out for that stretch of the Arkansas River, from the dam to Fountain Creek,” said board member Jim Gardner. The agreement was important to the water board not only because it protects the flow program and puts on hold a Pueblo West plan to pump effluent into a wash that leads directly into Lake Pueblo, said Alan Hamel, executive director of the water board. “Importantly, for the entire Pueblo community, we’ve enhanced the flow program without disturbing the three-party and six-party agreements,” Hamel said.

He was referring to 2004 agreements that settled issues relating to SDS and the Preferred Storage Options Program. Those pacts also set up a program that maintains seasonal flows through Pueblo by curtailing exchanges.

More Arkansas River basin coverage here.

Energy policy — geothermal: BLM Mt. Princeton lease sale update

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):

John Kreski, who owns the Creekside Hot Springs vacation rental in the lease area, is among private landowners breathing a sigh of relief. “They (3E Geothermal) have 10 years to develop it and I think the reason they bought it was to protect the drinking water supply in the area and keep the aesthetics of the area pristine,” Kreski said…

The lease will not be issued until the 16 protest letters have been resolved. If the lease is issued, it would be the first step in any geothermal development process, according to Keith Berger, BLM field manager. “The BLM’s next action would come if the lessee submits a project proposal. The BLM would then initiate an environmental review of the proposal and seek public input for concerns and potential issues related to that proposal,” Berger explained.

More geothermal coverage here and here.

Fort Collins: Water innovation business cluster profile

Here’s the announcement from the City of Fort Collins webiste:

Announcing the formation of a new, exciting industry cluster focused on water-related issues and innovation! The future of water safety, water supply and water management is a global issue; Fort Collins area companies, Colorado State University and industry partners around the state are ready to take on water challenges and discover solutions that are best for the planet, for business and our societies.

The newly organized industry cluster unites these companies and organizations as they contribute to the economic vitality of our area and beyond.

CWCB: Next board meeting January 24-26

From email from the Colorado Water Conservation Board:

Notice is hereby given that a workshop for members of the CWCB will be held on Monday, January 24, 2011. This workshop will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Denver Tech Center, located at 7675 E. Union Ave., Denver, CO 80237, commencing at 1:00 p.m.

Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the CWCB will be held on Tuesday January 25, 2011, commencing at 8:00 a.m. and continuing through Wednesday, January 26, 2011. This meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Denver Tech Center, located at 7675 E. Union Ave., Denver, CO 80237.

More CWCB coverage here.

Arkansas Valley: Wildlife water needs

Here’s a look at the work of SeEtta Moss’ work to preserve water for wildlife, from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

Moss, who lives in Canon City, is the conservation chairwoman for the Arkansas Valley Audobon and Colorado Audubon societies, and her influence in water issues has grown in the past five years. In 2005, she joined the Arkansas Basin Roundtable as the representative for nonconsumptive needs — the water that provides landscape and habitat for birds and other wildlife. In that time, she has taught other members of the roundtable the importance of wildlife-related activities, helped develop a groundbreaking method of measuring the relative importance of nonconsumptive use in the basin and worked for state grants to study wildlife habitat throughout the basin…

So, what do all those animals have to do with the value of water?
“Protecting the environmental values is a job creator,” Moss said. “Protecting these assets is important to creating jobs in Colorado. People come to see pretty landscapes and the birds. Not many want to come here to see dry mountain streams.” Watching wildlife, hunting and fishing have an estimated $3 billion impact on the state’s economy…

Moss gives the creatures who cannot own a water right a place at the table as decisions are made.

More Arkansas River basin coverage here.

Rio Blanco River restoration update

From The New York Times (Chris Santella):

To create a habitat that would support trout in the valley reaches of the Rio Blanco, it was necessary to slow the river enough to stem erosion and create deeper pockets of water to provide shelter for the fish. Before he could begin to create a blueprint to engineer the necessary changes, Rosgen needed to find a river in the region that would provide a natural model.

“I looked for a system that had a similar flow regime and hence was naturally stable,” he said. Once such a model was found — the East Fork of the San Juan in an adjoining valley — Rosgen set to work, hauling in boulders and parts of old trees to rejuvenate the Blanco’s banks and direct its waters toward a more defined channel.

“My goal was to develop a naturally meandering stream that has a close connection to the surrounding riparian environs,” Rosgen said. “In the past, methods included using junked cars and concrete to shore up stream banks. That doesn’t exactly give the river a natural feel.”

One of the main challenges Rosgen faced on the Rio Blanco was filtering out the massive amounts of sediment that is carried down from the mountains during spring runoff. If the sediment was not diverted, the stream bed would be clogged and water would flow outside of the primary channel. Rosgen and his team constructed a tube to divert cobble, gravel and sand away from the river channel; water flows through, and sediment is routed to a holding area that can be periodically emptied. The excess gravel — which during my visit rivaled the sand piles along highways during the snow season — is used to supplement the roads and trails around the ranch.

Because of Rosgen’s efforts, there are three miles of the Rio Blanco that may be fished by guests of El Rancho Pinoso, which is owned by Robert Lindner Sr., the founder of United Dairy Farms. The price tag for the renovation was about $1 million.

Thanks to Loretta Lohman for the link.

More Rio Blanco River watershed coverage here.

Purgatoire River: Colorado Trout Unlimited is embarking on project to enhance the trout fishery

From the CTU Newsblog (Joanie Muzzulin):

…a few, like Chapter President Howard Lackey, could see beyond the trash and invasive plants and envision the potential of the Purgatoire River as a trout steam. Howard’s grandfather taught him the best way to recover from a stressful day of work is to take out the fly rod, and that is easier to do with a stream near where you work and live. The Trinidad Community Foundation was founded in 2006, with a mission to improve the quality of life in Trinidad and Las Animas County. Howard was on the board of directors, and one of the first projects tackled was improving the river corridor. The Foundation began a spring clean-up of the river corridor. They partnered with The Comcast Foundation, and this spring over 230 people volunteered at the Comcast Cares clean-up event.

Members from Chapter 509 Southern Colorado Greenbacks in Pueblo had become interested in the Purgatoire River a couple of years ago, and toured it with city officials and Kim Pacheco Schultz, the Executive Director of the Trinidad-Las Animas County Chamber of Commerce. They were excited by the possibilities but knew it would be difficult to work on a project 75 miles away. Chapter 509 generously off ered to allow a new TU chapter to form in their southeastern Colorado territory. A meeting was held in September 2009 to measure the local interest, and Chapter 100, Purgatoire River Anglers, came into being that night.

More Purgatoire River watershed coverage here and here.

Electric generation and water in the Arkansas Valley

Here’s a look at the water requirements for electrical generation and the current state of power plants in the Arkansas Valley, from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

The purchase of half of one of the valley’s largest irrigation systems, the Amity Canal, by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association shines a new light on how water and electricity are connected. “The system is out of balance. We really had the need for power-generation resources on the eastern side of our system,” said Lee Boughey, communications director for Tri-State. “We did it differently, because we saw the need for having the water on-site with options for any number of technologies.”[...]

While initial plans called for a pair of coal-burning power plants that would generate 1,400 megawatts of power, Tri-State now is looking at options that could incorporate coal, natural gas, wind, solar or even nuclear technology. Until then, the water that eventually will be used in electric power generation remains in agriculture, on farms that Tri-State bought along with the water and now leases to tenant farmers. “When we do build a power plant, the transmission lines associated with it will help facilitate renewable energy because you will have a more stable infrastructure,” Boughey explained. “At the same time, it’s important to maintain the land and keep it in production.”[...]

An even larger share of the electricity generated at Pueblo will go to Denver metro area customers beginning in 2012. Black Hills Energy is building a gas-fired plant near Pueblo, also with water supplied by the Pueblo water board, and is planning on closing its Canon City generating plant. Colorado Springs Utilities, which supplies the largest customer base in the basin, controls its own water supply, and reuses nonpotable water as part of the supply for its coal and gas plants. It also produces some electricity by hydropower. The city will increase its power demands when it builds the Southern Delivery System, because it will have to pump water uphill from Pueblo Dam. Right now, Colorado Springs has the capacity to produce more electricity than it uses, said Bruce McCormick, chief energy officer for Colorado Springs Utilities. Colorado Springs controls its own water, wastewater, electric and gas utilities.

Click through for Mr. Woodka short bio of Mr. Boughey.

More energy policy coverage here.

Drought news

From 9News.com (Christina Dickinson/Dan Weaver):

The National Weather Service says much of the eastern half of Colorado, including Denver, is in a moderate drought. They say portions of Southeastern Colorado are in a severe drought…

NIDIS Weekly Climate, Water and Drought Assessment Summary of the Upper Colorado River Basin

Here is the link to this week’s notes from the Colorado Climate Center.

Energy policy — hydroelectric: Reclamation Extends Comment Period on Hydropower Resource Assessment at Existing Reclamation Facilities Draft Report

Here’s the release from the Bureau of Reclamation (Peter Soeth):

The Bureau of Reclamation has reopened the comment period for the Hydropower Resource Assessment at Existing Reclamation Facilities Draft Report from December 6, 2010 to January 27, 2011.

The Bureau of Reclamation issued a Federal Register Notice announcing the availability for public review and comment the Hydropower Resource Assessment at Existing Reclamation Facilities Draft Report on November 4, 2010. This draft report is an assessment of the economic and technical potential for hydropower development at existing Reclamation owned non-powered dams and structures.

It provides an inventory of hydropower potential at existing Reclamation sites using broad energy and economic criteria. It does not make any recommendation for development of the sites included in the report.

Comments may be submitted by mail or email no later than January 27, 2011 to:

Michael Pulskamp
Bureau of Reclamation
Denver Federal Center, Bldg 67
PO Box 25007
Denver, CO 80225&lt
Email: mpulskamp@usbr.gov

The draft report and Federal Register Notice are available for download on Reclamation’s website at www.usbr.gov/power/.

More hydroelectric coverage here and here.

Energy policy — nuclear: Colorado industry update

Writer, Bobby Magill, whose work often appears in the Fort Collins Coloradoan has a post up on the High Country News blog A Just West about the proposed Piñon Ridge uranium mill and the industry in general in Colorado. He’s pointing to The New York Times article I linked to on Monday (now behind the NYT paywall). From Magill’s post:

So, when a company proposes a new uranium mill, those wary of the industry’s trustworthiness have volumes of Colorado history supporting a conclusion that it’s reasonable to turn a skeptical eye toward new uranium projects and the regulations created to safeguard people and the environment.

But does rigorous skepticism toward the Piñon Ridge Mill necessarily lead to saying “Not in my backyard”? The answer will become clear if Colorado regulators give the mill a green light in January, when western Colorado’s nuclear legacy could be set on a course for a new era in uranium production.

More nuclear coverage here and here.

Snowpack news: Jim Cooksey — ‘As a farmer, you live a lot on hope. You put a lot of faith in mother nature and God to bring moisture to make a crop’

Click on the thumbnail graphic to the right to view the latest snowpack map from the NRCS. It’s still early but Colorado is ending the year in great shape except the eastern plains. Click here for the current U.S. Drought Monitor map.

Meanwhile winter wheat crops are threatened by the drought on the eastern plains, according to Sharon Dunn writing for The Fence Post. From the article:

“Now, it’s probably the worst we’ve seen in 30 years,” said Jim Cooksey of Cooksey Farms southeast of Roggen. Four months of little to no moisture is taking its toll on the crop, which blankets fields across northern Colorado. That means hopes for even an average harvest next summer are starting to dwindle. The Cooksey family’s 3,600 acres of winter wheat so far are patchy at best. By now, the winter wheat crop should be up a good 3-4 inches heading into its winter dormancy, Cooksey said. Winter wheat is planted in the fall so it shoots up into a nice ground cover before it hits the winter dormancy. The crop will wake back up in the spring and is harvested in the summer. While hardy, it also depends on moisture, which should be kick-started in the fall. Subsoil moisture is a good 6 inches below the surface. Without moisture to bridge that gap, the crop struggles.

“We usually have at least one storm in fall, but that hasn’t happened this year,” Cooksey said. “As a farmer, you live a lot on hope. You put a lot of faith in mother nature and God to bring moisture to make a crop.”[...]

“They say the winter wheat crop has nine lives,” [Darrell Hanavan, executive director of Colorado Wheat in Fort Collins] said. “Some of the farmers have said we’ve used two or three so far. It’s not over yet. … If we can get the right conditions, we could still have the potential for an average crop.”

Norwood and other providers are looking to shore up water rights in advance of possible instream flow appropriation for portions of the San Miguel River watershed

From The Norwood Post (Ellen Metrick):

“It isn’t just us,” said Norwood Town Administrator Patti Grafmyer. “The water court is going to be inundated by filings from San Miguel and Montrose counties, too.”

The town and Norwood Water Commission (NWC) are working to plan ahead for the area, and figure they’ll need another 1,056 acre-feet of water by the year 2060 to cover the projected growth. “We have to plan ahead that far, at least,” said NWC president Mark Muniz. Right now, the town and water commission have an agreement with Farmers Ditch Company for 300 acre-feet, and have the option to purchase more, but the ditch company has been waiting to hear back from the Forest Service on a new ditch bill that may change regulations on municipal water being carried through Forest Service property.

The town owns water rights in the San Miguel River, but the problem — and the expense — lie in getting the water up the hill. The proposal that is being worked on is to move the location where Norwood can draw its water from, which is currently near the bridge at the bottom of Norwood Hill. The town has several areas they are looking at, and several possible plans for enlargement of ditches, new ditches, and reservoir sites, though none is yet set in stone. Grafmyer said the filing for the water has to be finalized by this Friday. “It’s still in draft form right now. The engineers and legal firms are still working on the final draft.”

More San Miguel River watershed coverage here and here.

Energy policy — hydroelectric: Public comment period for proposed Aspen hydropower project closes January 18

From the Aspen Daily News (Curtis Wackerle):

While only two comments having been submitted so far — both in favor of the project, which could generate power for up to 600 homes — a committee of experts hired by Pitkin County’s tax-supported Healthy Rivers and Streams Board is in the process of reviewing thousands of pages of documents on the proposed hydro facility. The board is aiming to complete its report in advance of the Jan. 18 deadline for comments on the draft application. The public has a 90-day window to submit comments to the city on the draft application, which was filed in mid-October. Once comments have been submitted, the city will consider them prior to finalizing its application to FERC. “The idea behind that is once we’ve had the 90 days, we’ll take those comments, and if there are any comments that might constitute making a change to the application, we would make those revisions,” City of Aspen Deputy Director of Utilities and Environmental Initiatives Dave Hornbacher said, adding that nothing has come in yet that would lead to any changes.

More hydroelectric coverage here and here.

Whitewater news: Rafting numbers up in 2010

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):

According to Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area Rationing Coordinator John Kreski, boating client use was up 2.56 percent over last year with a total of 262,122 people taking to the river on commercial rafting trips. A total of 254,431 clients rafted the river in 2009. “That’s good news,” said Bob Hamel of Cotopaxi, owner of Arkansas River Tours and president of Colorado River Outfitters Association. “That is what you would predict or hope for even in a good economy, so Colorado continues to hang in there.”

Hamel said he attributes the good numbers to several economic factors. He said shorter trips are still affordable for families, pricing has held for two to three years and discounts are available. The biggest jump in users came among anglers. Float fishing raft trips are a segment of the industry that bring in business during shoulder season months before and after the main rafting season of June, July and August.

Top 10 Colorado weather stories of the decade

From the National Weather Service:

IN A MEMORABLE PERIOD OF BLIZZARDS…FIRES…FLOODS…SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES…FROM 2001 THROUGH 2010…THE MARCH BLIZZARD OF 2003 WAS A CONSENSUS TOP EVENT AS DETERMINED BY A TEAM OF METEOROLOGISTS SERVING THE STATE OF COLORADO.

FOLLOWING ARE THE SURVEY RESULTS OF THE TOP TEN WEATHER EVENTS AS RANKED BY METEOROLOGICAL INTENSITY AND HUMAN/ECONOMIC IMPACT….

1. MARCH BLIZZARD OF 2003…MARCH 17-19…2003. ACCORDING TO THE DENVER MAYOR…THIS STORM IS THE STORM OF THE CENTURY…A BACK BREAKER…A RECORD BREAKER…A ROOF BREAKER. DENVER EXPERIENCED THE SNOWIEST MARCH IN ITS HISTORY…AND THE STORM BROKE A STREAK OF 19 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS OF BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION IN DENVER. THE FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE RECEIVED 3 TO 8 FEET OF SNOW…WITH 2 TO 3 FEET IN THE URBAN CORRIDOR AND METRO DENVER. DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS CLOSED…AS WAS INTERSTATE 70 IN BOTH DIRECTIONS FROM DENVER…AND HUNDREDS OF ROOFS COLLAPSED DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF THE SNOW.

2. CHRISTMAS BLIZZARDS OF 2006…DECEMBER 20-21 AND DECEMBER 28-30 2006. MOTHER NATURE DELIVERED A ONE-TWO PUNCH AS LARGE SLOW MOVING STORMS DROPPED HEAVY SNOW ALONG WITH STRONG WINDS TO PRODUCE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ON THE PLAINS. TOTAL COST OF LOST REVENUE…SNOW REMOVAL AND LIVESTOCK LOSSES FOR BOTH STORMS WAS ESTIMATED IN THE TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. THE RESIDUAL EFFECTS OF THE STORMS INCLUDED HUGE RUTS ON LOCAL STREETS IN THE DENVER METRO AREA FOR WEEKS…AND THE HEAVY SNOWPACK CREATED AN EXTREMELY COLD WINTER INTO EARLY SPRING FOLLOWED BY A FLOOD THREAT OVER SOUTHEAST COLORADO.

3. 2002 SUMMER OF FIRE…AS A RESULT OF RECORD DRYNESS FROM EARLY SPRING THROUGH THE SUMMER OF 2002…DOZENS OF WILDFIRES ERUPTED ACROSS THE STATE DURING THE LATE SPRING AND SUMMER. IN JUNE DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE FIRE ACTIVITY…THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO PRONOUNCED…IT LOOKS AS IF ALL OF COLORADO IS BURNING TODAY…THE FIRES SCORCHED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES…WITH COSTS IN THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. SOME OF THESE FIRES INCLUDED TRINIDAD COMPLEX…THE HAYMAN FIRE…SOUTHWEST OF DENVER WHICH SET A RECORD AS THE LARGEST FIRE IN THE HISTORY OF COLORADO…THE MISSIONARY RIDGE FIRE NORTHEAST OF DURANGO…THE MILLION FIRE SOUTH OF SOUTH FORK…AND THE MOUNT ZIRKEL COMPLEX FIRE…NORTH OF STEAMBOAT SPRINGS.

4. THE WINDSOR TORNADO…MAY 22…2008. IN THE LATE MORNING A POWERFUL TORNADO RACED NORTH NORTHWEST FOR 39 MILES ACROSS WELD COUNTY BEFORE MOVING INTO EASTERN LARIMER COUNTY. DAMAGE WAS EXTENSIVE IN EASTERN WINDSOR AND WEST OF GREELEY. ONE PERSON WAS KILLED AT THE MISSILE SILO CAMPGROUND AND THERE WERE 78 INJURIES. THE TORNADO WAS RATED EF3 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE DUE TO THE EXTENT OF DAMAGE NEAR THE MISSILE SILO CAMPGROUND. WITH INSURED DAMAGES REACHING 147 MILLION DOLLARS…THIS WAS THE FOURTH COSTLIEST DISASTER FOR COLORADO.

5. 2002 DROUGHT…DENVER EXPERIENCED 19 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS OF BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION…MUCH OF THE STATE SHARED IN THE DRY CONDITIONS. IN APRIL 2002…THE GOVERNOR REQUESTED A STATEWIDE EMERGENCY DROUGHT DECLARATION FROM THE U.S. AGRICULTURAL SECRETARY. AT THE END OF THAT MONTH THE SNOWPACK IN THE SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BASIN WAS 44 PERCENT…OTHER BASINS WERE EVEN LOWER. THE DRY CONDITIONS DIRECTLY SET THE STAGE FOR THE 2002 SUMMER OF FIRE.

6. HOLLY TORNADO…MARCH 28…2007. A LARGE TORNADO DEVELOPED JUST SOUTH OF HOLLY IN PROWERS COUNTY AND MOVED NORTH AT 50 MPH…INTO KIOWA COUNTY. IN HOLLY…THE TORNADO PRODUCED EF3 DAMAGE…WITH 200 STRUCTURES IN THE TOWN HEAVILY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. THE TORNADO REMAINED ON THE GROUND FOR 28 MILES. TWO PEOPLE WERE KILLED…THE FIRST TORNADO FATALITIES IN COLORADO SINCE 1960.

7. 4 MILE FIRE…SEPTEMBER 5-13…2010. A WILDFIRE SPREAD RAPIDLY …FANNED BY ERRATIC 45 MPH WIND GUSTS…BURNING 3500 ACRES THE FIRST DAY…WITH A FINAL TALLY OF 6181 SCORCHED ACRES. THE FIRE BECAME THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN COLORADO HISTORY…DESTROYING 171 HOMES AND AND ESTIMATED COST OF 217 MILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGE.

8. NORTHWEST METRO AREA HAILSTORM…JULY 20…2009. AFTER A CLEAR EVENING…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPED RAPIDLY OVER THE NORTHWEST DENVER METRO AREA…TRACKING SOUTHEAST ACROSS ARVADA…WHEAT RIDGE …AND LAKEWOOD. DOWNBURST WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH COMBINED WITH GOLFBALL HAIL PRODUCED DAMAGES OF 350 MILLION DOLLARS TO HOMES AND CARS. AS MANY AS NINETY THOUSAND HOMES AND BUSINESSES LOST POWER.

9. DIA HAILSTORM…JUNE 21…2001. A SEVERE HAILSTORM TRACKED ACROSS DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND THE TOWN OF WATKINS…DROPPING GOLFBALL TO BASEBALL SIZED HAIL. PLANES AND A GROUND SURVEILLANCE RADAR WERE DAMAGED AT THE AIRPORT…WHILE 200 PEOPLE WERE LEFT HOMELESS WHEN THE SAME STORM MOVED THROUGH A MOBILE HOME PARK IN WATKINS. STATE FARM INSURANCE ESTIMATED THE HAILSTORM CAUSED NEARLY 17 MILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGES.

“AND THERE WERE TWO EVENTS THAT WERE TIED FOR 10TH.”

10. ELLICOTT TORNADO…MAY 28…2001. MICROBURSTS AND TORNADOES RAGED ACROSS EASTERN EL PASO COUNTY THAT EVENING. ONE TORNADO DESTROYED NEARLY HALF OF THE JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. NEARLY 100 MOBILE HOMES…SOME OCCUPIED…WERE DESTROYED.

10. JULY 2005 HEAT WAVE…IN DENVER FROM THE 19TH TO THE 23RD THE HIGH TEMPERATURE EACH DAY CLIMBED ABOVE 100 DEGREES…WITH A HIGH OF 105 DEGREES ON THE 20TH WHICH TIED THE ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR DENVER. IN THE MONTH THERE WERE 7 NEW RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES AT DENVER AND 4 NEW RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS AT BOTH PUEBLO AND COLORADO SPRINGS. PUEBLO HAD 20 DAYS OF 90 DEGREES OR HIGHER …AND 12 DAYS OF 100 OR HIGHER.

Thanks to the Summit County Citizens Voice for the link.