‘A stunning landscape is saved after a decade-long war over its water’ — Nature Conservancy Magazine

Here’s an in-depth look at how water served as the catalyst to unite San Luis Valley residents in opposition to plans to ship water to the Denver Metro area back in the 1980s and 1990s, from Nature Conservancy Magazine (Frederick Reimers). Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

In the early light of a spring morning in 1989 a fellow barged into the Crestone, Colorado, bakery where Christine Canaly worked, hungry for breakfast. The man, it turned out, was vice president of a company that planned to spend $150 million to drill 100 wells and pipe water from the rural San Luis Valley to the Denver suburbs, more than 100 miles away. Those suburbs, he said, would pay top dollar for the water, and the project would be a financial bonanza for everyone in the San Luis Valley…

…[Rancher Greg Gosar] had been chewing over a conversation that he’d had a year earlier. The principal owner of the sprawling, 97,000-acre Baca Ranch, a Canadian oilman named Maurice Strong, had been applying for extensive water rights in the valley. Gosar had asked Strong what he planned to do with the water. “Maurice told me, ‘We’re going to put in some potatoes, and we’re gonna plant quinoa,’” he recalls.

But Gosar didn’t quite believe it. And now, talking with [Christine Canaly], all the pieces began to fit together. Strong was the head of the same company that Canaly’s hungry visitor worked for. And if the massive water-export plan went through, there was a very good chance that the project would suck the valley’s farms and streams dry. Gosar was angry.

“Let’s go get these guys,” he told Canaly.

That was all she needed to hear. Within a few weeks, she and Gosar had formed a group called Citizens for San Luis Valley Water. Then, by happenstance, she met David Robbins, an attorney for the district that supplies water to local farmers.

“He’s this imposing, brilliant guy with a huge handlebar mustache,” says Canaly. “He told me they were already planning a lawsuit to stop the project. I asked him how he felt about citizens’ groups. He looked at me and said, ‘I love citizens’ groups.’”

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

A look at the management of water in the San Luis Valley

From the Valley Courier (Virginia Simmons):

In the 1860s the legislative branch of the Territory of Colorado had already made provisions about water use in the relatively small ditches by appropriation. The first ones created in the early 1850s were soon followed in the 1860s and 1870s by ditches that diverted water from the main stem of the Rio Grande River itself. In 1876 the constitution of the State of Colorado established appropriation of water rights in the order of priority, the doctrine of prior appropriation, and by the 1880s Colorado was making considerable headway in organizing the state government. The filing of ditch rights began in 1881.

In 1881, the Judicial Branch of the State of Colorado was granted final authority over priority, amount, location, and use of water rights. The judicial branch of Colorado’s government still has the authority over water matters relating to water, from district courts up to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Much later, in 1969, seven judicial districts would be established, overlapping with the seven major river basins of Colorado. The Colorado Twelfth Judicial District is in the Third Water District, the same geographical area as the San Luis Valley. Besides being a water court, the district court deals with many other types of cases, of course, so district judges get assistance of water referees, attorneys who examine cases related to water and make recommendation to the district judge. In Colorado Judicial District 3, District Judge Pattie M. Swift is the water judge.

Since 1881 also, the state has had an Office of the Water Engineer, our Colorado water pooh bah. Beginning as a one-man office, it was responsible for such activities as records of surface and ground water rights, decrees, stream flow and water use, and dam safety. The state engineer also serves as Colorado’s commissioner on the Rio Grande Compact Commission. The Division of Water Resources (DWR) is currently headed by Director Dick Wolfe.

Division 3 of the Division of Water Resources (DWR) was established in 1969, whereby the state designated seven divisions, one for each of Colorado’s major water basins. Division 3 occupies the San Luis Valley, the drainage of the Rio Grande River in Colorado and the same geographical area that is served by the judicial District Court, District 3.

In the DWR’s Division 3, Rio Grande Basin Division, the division engineer is Craig Cotten, with his office at 301 Mullins, Alamosa. He oversees monitoring stream flow, water use, well permits, ditch repair, and dam repair, and files reports with the Denver office. Local water commissioners’ offices are located at present at Monte Vista (District 20), Antonito (22), and Saguache (25, 26, 27). Water commissioners measure stream flows at gaging stations, coordinate calls for users with senior and junior rights, and send reports to the division engineer. Ditch riders are hired by ditch companies to maintain ditches and headgates, open headgates, and other on-the-ground jobs, some of which may get touchy.

Municipalities must comply with DWR regulations, water quality policies of the Colorado Water Quality Commission, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, the Colorado Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Board Certification, and the local code of ordinances, and federal laws. In a large town such as the City of Alamosa, the contact is the Director of Public Works, whereas smaller towns may have a water and sewer department. Residents of rural areas and small villages use domestic wells.

Not until 1957 and 1965 was legislation passed regarding wells, ground water, and augmentation. Permits for ground water wells were then required and are administered by DWR. Statutes also were passed that included tributary water in wells that were affecting surface water rights. Since 1972, DWR has administered domestic well permits on property of less than 35 acres. Restrictions on permits may differ from one county to another, but they still must comply with DWR’s state regulations.

Over all, then, administration of the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) for the entire, diverse state is a large responsibility. And this is just one division within the present Colorado Department of Natural Resources (CDNR), where some other divisions are also related to water. Mike King is director of CDNR.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

The USFS and the BLM are taking comments for proposed management plan for the La Garita Hills

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are seeking public comment on a string of proposed projects in a 188,000-acre area of La Garita Hills. “We feel this process will create multiple projects that complement each other and will more efficiently manage the greater La Garita Hills area,” said Jim Pitts, a district ranger for the Rio Grande National Forest.

The projects, which would take place anywhere from three to 15 years, include timber harvest on spruce-beetle infested forests; the removal of hazard trees near campgrounds and other developed sites; and the relocation of forest roads to reduce sedimentation in streams.
Thinning of conifers also would happen near riparian areas to improve habitat, while other treatments would reduce the threat of fire near private lands. All told, the proposals include 12 different actions for the area that borders the northwestern corner of the San Luis Valley.

Comments can be mailed to LGH Project, Saguache Ranger District, 4625 Colorado 114, Saguache, CO 81149; or emailed to comments-rocky-mountain-rio-grande-saguache@fs.fed.us.

More information about the proposals can be found under the projects section of the Rio Grande National Forest website.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: State Engineer Approval of the 2013 Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No. 1

From email from the State Engineer’s office (Kathryn H. Radke):

On April 30, 2013, State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved the Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No.1.

This approval will be filed with the Division No. 3 Water Court later today.

All documents are located on DWR’s website at the following location:
http://water.state.co.us/DivisionsOffices/Div3RioGrandeRiverBasin/Pages/Subdistrict1ARP.aspx

Note: these documents can also be downloaded from the DWR’s FTP site:
ftp://dwrftp.state.co.us/dwr/Annual%20Replacement%20Plans/2013/Subdistrict%201

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved a water replacement plan Tuesday aimed at mitigating harm from groundwater pumping in the north-central San Luis Valley.

Wolfe’s approval made few changes to the proposal from Subdistrict No. 1, which is required to lay out what sources of water it will use to replace water lost by the pumping of nearly 3,400 wells in the subdistrict’s boundaries.

He did bar the use of 86.5 acre-feet of water from Ruby Reservoir southwest of Creede until a substitute water supply plan is submitted to and approved by his office.

But that still leaves the subdistrict with a pool of more than 7,500 acre feet of water it can release into the Rio Grande to mitigate the injury to surface water rights holders.

A state computer model estimated that pumping would cause 5,389 acre-feet in depletions that the subdistrict must replace.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Water court: Subdistrict No. 1 pumpers can claim water from Reclamation’s Closed Basin Project

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A water court judge ruled Wednesday that groundwater irrigators in the north-central San Luis Valley can claim water from a federal reclamation project to offset their pumping. The 45-page order from Judge Pattie Swift allows Subdistrict No. 1 to claim water from the Closed Basin Project, which pumps groundwater from the east side of the valley and sends it to the Rio Grande.

Objectors, which included five parties, argued, among other points, that the use of water from the project injured surface rights owners who were dependent on the Rio Grande and its tributaries.

Swift’s order said the project developed and delivered water to the Rio Grande that would have otherwise never made it to the river. “Thus the court cannot presume that pumping the Closed Basin Project wells causes injury to senior surface water rights,” the ruling said.

The subdistrict, which takes in more than 3,000 irrigation wells in the north-central valley, was created primarily to replace depletions to the river caused by pumping. The subdistrict purchased and leased over 10,000 acre-feet in 2012, including the Closed Basin Project water, and was ordered by the state engineer to return 4,724 acre-feet to the river.

In this year’s annual replacement plan, the subdistrict has again proposed using up to 2,500 acre-feet from the project toward its replacement obligations, although the proposal still requires approval of the state engineer.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: Groundwater Sub-District #1 plans to fallow 9,073 acres to reduce pumping by 15,600 AF

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A groundwater subdistrict designed to reduce aquifer pumping and protect surface water users released its draft annual replacement plan Thursday. The plan for Subdistrict No. 1, which takes in just under 3,400 irrigation wells in the north-central San Luis Valley, is subject to public comment and must still be approved by the state engineer. The subdistrict has set a 7 p.m. meeting Thursday, April 11, in the Adams State University Student Union to take public comment.

The draft plan projects the subdistrict will send 5,102 acre-feet of water into the Rio Grande to mitigate the impacts to surface water users from groundwater pumping. Groundwater pumping by subdistrict wells is estimated to come in at 270,000 acre-feet this year. The plan lists 10 sources for the replacement water that amount to 11,165 acre-feet in available water. One of those sources is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project that pumps groundwater from the eastern side of the valley and delivers most of it to the Rio Grande to assist with interstate compact requirements. The subdistrict’s ability to use water from the Closed Basin Project remains under review by the Division 3 Water Court.

The subdistrict’s other main goal is to reduce groundwater use through the fallowing of agricultural land. It has contracts with landowners to allow the fallowing of 9,073 acres this year, a move that is projected to reduce pumping by 15,600 acre-feet.

More San Luis Valley Groundwater coverage here and here.

Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting recap: ‘My mantra has been let’s try to solve and not fight’ — Scott Verhines

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Alamosa hosted the annual Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting, which rotates among the states of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

Although the states are currently involved in litigation over compact administration, pending lawsuits were hardly mentioned during the meeting, and state engineers said they hoped the states could resolve their differences.

In January, Texas filed suit against New Mexico over Rio Grande Compact disputes, with Colorado caught in the middle since it is part of the compact. The suit alleged New Mexico was not delivering to Texas the water owed that state under the compact.

“I am just hoping the three states and the commission continue to endeavor to work in a cooperative way,” said Dick Wolfe, compact commissioner for Colorado and the state water engineer.

Scott Verhines, Wolfe’s counterpart in New Mexico, said, “My mantra has been let’s try to solve and not fight … It behooves all of us to look for an opportunity to solve rather than fight.”

Pat Gordon, Texas’ compact commissioner and state engineer, said although he could not elaborate on all of the litigation issues, he agreed with Wolfe’s desire “that hopefully we can resolve all these issues.”

He said, “Water would solve a lot of issues.”

That seemed to be the consensus of all three states, which are entering yet another substandard water year.

“This is our fifth year in a row, consecutive year in a row, of below average conditions,” Commissioner Wolfe said. “We are seeing some pretty sustained below average conditions which certainly makes it difficult not only for users in Colorado but our downstream states as well.”

He said in the last 10-12 years, there have only been two or three years above the long-term average.

Wolfe reminded the water commissioners that 2012 experienced below average flows on the Rio Grande and Conejos River systems, with the Rio Grande producing 65 percent of average and the Conejos system 56 percent. He said 2013 will continue in a similar fashion but may be slightly better than last year. The March 1 forecast predicted 70 percent of average flows on the Rio Grande and 69 percent on the Conejos system, he reported.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

USFWS designation of habitat for the flycatcher was the talk of the recent Rio Grande Compact meeting

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently designated critical habitat for the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher in portions of the San Luis Valley totaling 27 miles and nine miles along the uppermost portion of New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Reservoir, one of the main storage facilities for the Rio Grande Compact. Murphy said the Colorado and New Mexico designations were essential to the recovery of the species, which has been on the federal endangered species list since 1995. Commissioners expressed concern the designations would affect compact administration. Murphy indicated the designations should not affect water administration along the Rio Grande [ed. emphasis mine].

In the engineer advisers’ report to the compact commission on Thursday, Colorado’s Engineer Adviser and Colorado Division 3 Engineer Craig Cotten read into the record the advisers’ report, which included the concern the Elephant Butte Reservoir flycatcher designation could impact about one million acre feet of reservoir storage. “Information presented by the [Fish and Wildlife] Service and [Bureau of] Reclamation relating to the impacts of the designation upon reservoir operations was inconclusive,” Cotten read from the engineer advisers’ report. “The engineer advisers are concerned about impacts from the designation on certain elements of the Rio Grande Compact, and to water operations, including supplies at Elephant Butte Reservoir.”

Colorado Commissioner and State Engineer for the Colorado Division of Water Resources Dick Wolfe questioned Murphy why areas in the San Luis Valley had been designated critical habitat for the flycatcher since members of the water community had worked for many years developing a habitat conservation plan (HCP) precluding the need for that designation. Wolfe said the Fish and Wildlife Service had been involved in the habitat conservation plan process and had approved it. “In approving that HCP the service recognized that HCP would provide continued protection to the flycatcher habitat,” Wolfe said. He added there are already more flycatcher pairs in the Valley than the habitat recovery plan calls for. He said 56 flycatcher territories were estimated in this area, and the FWS goal was 50, so he did not see the need for additional critical habitat designation.

Murphy said the goal of designating critical habitat for endangered species like the Southwestern willow flycatcher is to ensure their survival and recovery. He said an area that might not contain the species might be designated because of its connectivity to other habitats along the river corridor. The flycatcher habitat is unique, he said, in that this the only bird that nests in shrubs and trees with branches that are vertically oriented like the willows and saltcedar (tamarisk.)

Texas Commissioner Pat Gordon asked Murphy about the nine miles of critical habitat near Elephant Butte that was designated in January. Murphy said the Elephant Butte habitat “is not only significant to the Rio Grande Basin, it’s significant to the population as a whole. What we look at is an area that is essential to the survival of the species knowing that periodic inundation will occur and we feel that is probably beneficial to flycatcher habitat over the long run, but we could not ignore the fact that there are a significant number of territories there with high productivity levels.”

Murphy said when he moved to New Mexico in 1999 Elephant Butte Reservoir was nearly full, and it stayed that way for quite awhile. When the water levels receded in the reservoir, habitat appeared for the flycatchers, which took advantage of it and experienced a rebounding in their population as a result…

Water commissioners have reason to be concerned over endangered species’ effect on water administration, given the ongoing challenge to keep enough water in New Mexico’s rivers to sustain the Rio Grande Silvery minnows, another endangered species. “The Rio Grande Silvery minnows are at an all-time low,” Murphy reported to the Rio Grande Compact Commission. Last year 51 miles of the main channel of the Middle Rio Grande dried up, so the FWS undertook a salvage operation in which more than 4,200 silvery minnows were salvaged and relocated.

More endangered/threatened species coverage here and here.

Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting recap: Texas lawsuit with New Mexico delays final accounting

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A dispute with Texas over the calculation of water deliveries under the Rio Grande Compact won’t have an impact on how Colorado manages its share of the river in the San Luis Valley. Craig Cotten, the division engineer for the valley, said the difference in calculations was roughly 300 acre-feet. “It’s a very small amount of water,” he said.

The amount of water in the Rio Grande that has crossed the Colorado state line in the last decade has ranged from as little as 68,000 acre-feet in the drought year of 2003 to as much as 430,000 acre-feet in 2005.

Colorado and New Mexico have disagreed with Texas over how the Bureau of Reclamation has calculated evaporation rates from a pool of credit water contributed by the upstream states that ends up in Elephant Butte Reservoir. Cotten said Colorado and New Mexico would prefer to see the calculations done at the end of the year as opposed to a running basis.

The dispute, which started in 2011, prevented the three states from signing off on the final delivery totals at Thursday’s meeting of the Rio Grande Compact Commission. The calculation of evaporation rates in the pool of credit water is the subject of a lawsuit between New Mexico and the bureau in U.S. District Court in New Mexico.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley water is safe from the USFWS and the southwestern willow fly-catcher

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A federal wildlife manager assured Colorado officials Thursday that the protection of habitat for an endangered bird would not lead to demands on the state to relinquish water.

In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated critical habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher along 23 miles of the Rio Grande and a 2.9mile stretch of the Conejos River. “The designation itself does not affect water delivery or water users,” Wally Murphy, who oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s protection of endangered species in New Mexico, told the Rio Grande Compact Commission.

San Luis Valley water officials had been alarmed by the January designation after spending years working on a habitat conservation plan to protect the bird’s habitat on private land in the valley. The service excluded 114 miles of private stream bank along the Conejos and Rio Grande that were covered in the conservation plan.

But State Engineer Dick Wolfe, who represents Colorado on the commission, pressed Murphy on whether the operations of Platoro Reservoir or the Closed Basin Project might be impacted. “Habitat is ultimately driven by water to some extent so it seems like there is a nexus there,” Wolfe said.

Murphy said there would be no call for water. Platoro, which has a capacity of 59,000 acre-feet and sits near the Continental Divide, provides flood control and irrigation water for farmers and ranchers along the Conejos. The Closed Basin Project draws groundwater from the northeast corner of the valley and sends it downstream to assist with Colorado’s requirements under the compact.

More endangered/threatened species coverage here and here.

The Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust 2012 Annual Report is hot off the press

From email from the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust:

We had a great year in 2012 and wanted to share our Annual Report with our friends and supporters who made it happen. Click here to go directly to the report on our website.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

San Juans: Just two dust on snow events so far this winter #codrought

From The Telluride Daily Planet (Collin McRann):

One of the leading local climate research entities in the state is the Silverton Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, which has been conducting research on local precipitation and snowpack for more than a decade. Over the years, the center has accumulated reams of data about the snowpack, and on Friday a researcher presented some of the center’s findings at the monthly EcoAction Roundtable at the Wilkinson Public Library to a crowd of more than 15 people…

Though a lot of climate change research is focused on increasing temperatures, there are many side effects of warmer temperatures that could have a profound impact locally. One of those is dust on snow, which the center has been studying for years. Since 2004, the center has been gathering data on the amount of sunlight radiation reflected from the snowpack at sites in Beck Basin. When the snow is clean it reflects more heat and melts slower, but when covered in dust it melts faster. [Researcher Kim Buck] said almost all of the dust on snow in Colorado comes off of the Colorado Plateau. She said once the dust blows in and gets on the snow, it can speed up the melt dramatically — by an entire month in the spring…

Locally, there have been two dust blow-ins this winter, but they were mild compared with dust storms of the past few years, notably 2009, Buck said…

The center’s and NOAA’s snowpack data shows that this year’s snowpack is lower than last year at this time. According to NOAA information, the snowpack in the San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan River Basin is around 85 percent of normal. Last year it was slightly higher. Buck said it could be bad news this summer.

“It is extremely unlikely that we’re going to catch up on precipitation,” Buck said “Last year the state was just coming off of that great big water year, so reservoirs were full. This year reservoirs are low and then we’re getting another low snow year back to back. So I think the cities in the Front Range will have a pretty hard time in the summer.”

Snowpack news: The Upper Rio Grande River Basin is at 76% of normal #codrought

Here’s a report about the current snowpack and how the Upper Rio Grande Basin is drying over time, from Ruth Heide writing for the Valley Courier. You numbers junkies will want to click through for all the detail. Here’s an excerpt:

Dry may be the new normal for the San Luis Valley. “We are having to adjust to a new normal,” Rio Grande Water Users Association Attorney Bill Paddock said during the water users’ annual meeting this week in Monte Vista, “not of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s but of the 2000’s when there is fundamentally less water. We don’t know when this will change.”[...]

Colorado Division of Water Resources Division 3 Engineer Craig Cotten said the initial projection for the annual index supply for the Rio Grande this year is 435,000 acre feet, currently estimated to be a little more than last year’s 407,000 acre feet. The 407,000 acre feet last year was about 66 percent of average for the Rio Grande, “definitely not a real good year,” Cotten said.

The 435,000 acre-foot estimate takes into account the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) irrigation season forecast (April-September) of 360,000 acre feet.

Of the estimated annual index of 435,000 acre feet, the Rio Grande will have to deliver about 25 percent or about 107,800 acre feet downstream to New Mexico and Texas to meet Rio Grande Compact obligations. Because of winter flows sent downriver prior to the irrigation season and expected to be delivered after it ends this fall, the curtailment on the river during the irrigation season will likely be about 12 percent, Cotten told Rio Grande Water Users Association members on Tuesday…

Cotten reported the snowpack on the Upper Rio Grande Basin as of March 5 was about 78 percent of normal. “Currently we are a fair amount lower than we should be, than the average, lower than we have been the last three years,” he said.

He said to reach average snowpack would require 189 percent moisture from now on.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

Kerber Creek restoration project update: 4,000 feet of stream bank restored

From the Valley Courier (Trevor Klein):

Today, the Kerber Creek Restoration Project unites 16 partners in the effort to restore the Kerber Creek watershed, including the BLM; USFS; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Trout Unlimited; CDPHE; the Rio Grande Watershed Conservation and Education Initiative; and the Bonanza Stakeholders’ Group, which represents the interests of Kerber Creek watershed private landowners. Since 2008, the Office of Surface Mining’s Western Hardrock Watershed Team/AmeriCorps Volunteer in Service to America Program (OSM/VISTA) has provided a full-time staff member to serve as the project’s watershed coordinator.

This partnership has allowed the project to treat more than 60 acres of mine waste deposits, to restore more than 4,000 feet of stream bank, and to raise more than $2 million in grant funding. The project has also enhanced the aquatic ecosystem of the main stem of Kerber Creek, encouraging the brook trout population that returned as a result of the 1990s cleanup efforts and even attracting brown trout from San Luis Creek, into which Kerber Creek ultimately flows. Furthermore, the partnership has helped to ensure that these improvements remain protected by beginning the process to acquire minimum in-stream flow rights for almost the entire length of Kerber Creek and two of its major tributaries. In recognition of these impressive achievements, the Kerber Creek Restoration Project has received six major awards at the regional, state, and national levels.

These accomplishments could not have been achieved without the help of numerous volunteers, who have contributed more than 13,000 hours to the project over the past six years. Brady and Jane Farrell, heavily involved members of the Bonanza Stakeholders Group, summarized their experience with the project in October, 2011:

“All in all, we believe this project has been a success in every way. We owe a huge debt of thanks to this project, its staff and to the members and volunteers of the various agencies that have worked with us to clean up and improve Kerber Creek… We feel lucky to be part of the Kerber Creek Stakeholders group.”

While the restoration of the Kerber Creek watershed is far from over, the project serves as a reminder of the importance of collaboration, persistence, and patience to the conservation and preservation of Colorado’s water resources. Over the past six years, the Kerber Creek Restoration Project has attempted to narrow the gap between an ecosystem degraded by the environmental effects of human activities and an ecosystem created and sustained by natural processes. Though the methods may differ, the principles remain the same; strong, lasting partnerships, the involvement of all interested stakeholders, and data-driven initiatives are required to ensure that Colorado’s water resources are protected for present and future generations.

More Upper Rio Grande River Basin coverage here and here.

Dick Wolfe hopes that the Rio Grande Decision Support System will be ready next month

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

Wolfe said the computer groundwater model, the Rio Grande Decision Support System, is still being updated, and the new target date for that model to be ready to go is April. The San Luis Valley’s first water management sub-district depended on the model calibrations to determine how much it owed senior surface water rights, and future sub-districts will depend on the model for those numbers as well.

Wolfe said he wanted to make sure the model could be used to accurately determine the amount of depletions each sub-district needed to replace to surface water rights before moving forward with the rules.

“We want to make sure it’s done right,” Wolfe said.

He added he would like the model to be ready in April, but if it still needs work, he would rather wait than use incomplete information.

“We have a lot of hours, man hours, and people working on getting the task accomplished,” he said.

“I am optimistic we are getting closer to final numbers.”[...]

Rio Grande Water Conservation District General Manager Steve Vandiver said the model could have been completed more quickly if those working on it had not had to take time for court hearings and trials over the sub-district. Vandiver said after the first sub-district was approved in 2006, two lawsuits were filed that bound up resources including engineers, modelers and attorneys. They have had to prepare for three major trials and a Supreme Court decision. Those legal challenges were the reason the model has not been completed more quickly, Vandiver said…

As soon as the model is satisfactorily updated, the groundwater rules advisory committee will begin meeting again, Wolfe said. This group is now in its third year of working on the regulations, he added. Two pieces of the regulations still need to be finalized, the phase-in portion and the sustainability portion, Wolfe said. The phase-in portion lets each sub-district get a plan of water management approved by the court and an annual operating plan in place. The sustainability portion was difficult, Wolfe said, because the group had to determine how to measure sustainability.

Once the rules are completed, they will be submitted to the water court for final adoption, Wolfe said. If the rules are opposed, they will go through an appeal process, so the effective date of the rule implementation would depend on how quickly and smoothly that process went.

More San Luis Valley Groundwater coverage here and here.

2013 Colorado legislation: Acequia bill passes house, more inclusive than 2009 bill

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A bill that passed through the state House of Representatives in Denver this week would help preserve the communal irrigation ditches dug by Hispanic settlers when they came to parts of Southern Colorado.

The bill is the second measure from state Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Fort Garland, to address the ditches, called acequias in Spanish, but this version loosens landuse requirements for participation from the one he carried in 2009. “It’s inclusive now,” Vigil said.

The measure, which applied to pre-statehood ditches built in Conejos, Costilla, Huerfano and Las Animas counties, required that at least two-thirds of the land they irrigated remain in the long-lot style that would have existed at the time of settlement. But Vigil heard from irrigators that the requirement was too strict. While long lots, or varas as they’re known in Spanish, can still be seen in Costilla County, they’re far less common in the other counties. “That’s just not the case here in Conejos County anymore,” rancher Lawrence Gallegos said. “Today they’ve been consolidated.”

He waters pastures off of two different acequias that were built in 1855 and 1856 and draw from the San Antonio River. Gallegos, who testified in favor of the bill before the House Agricultural Committee, said he thinks his fellow members on the two ditches might be interested in taking up some of the provisions from the bill. He pointed specifically to a clause that allowed the ditch the right of first refusal regarding the sale, lease or exchange of water.

The law also incorporates elements that were historically common to acequias but did not become a part of Colorado law, such as each member of a ditch having an equal vote. The measure would also allow for ditch policy that required members to provide labor for maintenance. Vigil did not know when it would be taken up in the Senate.

More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Cranes make annual return to San Luis Valley

Here’s the release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife:

In the San Luis Valley nature is now putting on one of its most memorable annual displays: the spring migration of greater sandhill cranes. In appreciation of this wildlife spectacle, area organizations, businesses and wildlife agencies are holding the 30th Annual Monte Vista Crane Festival, March 8-10.

“Everyone who lives in Colorado should see this migration stopover at least once,” said Rick Basagoitia, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the San Luis Valley. “The sights and sounds are truly amazing.”

The cranes start arriving in mid-February, flying from their winter nesting ground in Socorro, New Mexico. Large wetland areas and grain fields in the San Luis Valley draw in about 25,000 birds every year. The cranes stop in the valley to rest-up and fuel-up for their trip north to their summer nesting and breeding grounds in northern Idaho, western Wyoming and northwest Colorado.

Cranes are among the oldest living species on the planet: Fossil records for cranes date back 9 million years.

The birds that migrate through Colorado are the largest of the North American sandhill subspecies standing 4-feet tall, having a wing-span of up to 7 feet and weighing in at 11 pounds. Besides their imposing size, the birds issue a continuous, distinctive and haunting call. At this time of year cranes are engaged in their mating ritual and the birds perform an elegant hopping dance as they attempt to gain the attention of other birds.

The birds are abundant in areas near the town of Monte Vista and are easy to spot. Wildlife watchers can see the birds most readily in the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge and in the Rio Grande, Higel and Russell Lakes state wildlife areas.

During the three days of the festival, free tours are offered at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the birds are most active. Visitors take buses to various spots on the wildlife refuge, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staffers talk about the migration and the refuge.

The number of cranes in the valley peaks in mid-March and many linger through the month. So, even if you can’t go the weekend of the festival there’s still plenty of time to see the birds.

Birdwatchers who travel on their own should be cautious when parking, getting out of vehicles and walking along roads. People are also asked to view birds from a distance with binoculars and spotting scopes, and to observe trail signs and closure notices.

Many other bird species – including eagles, turkeys and a variety of waterfowl – can also be seen in the area.

The festival headquarters and starting point for the tours is the Ski Hi Park building located near U.S. Highway 160 on Sherman Avenue on the east side of Monte Vista. Visitors can pick up maps, schedules and information at the headquarters. Besides the tours, a variety of workshops are put on by bird, wildlife and photography experts. An arts and crafts fair continues through the weekend at the headquarters building.

The crane festival is organized by the local crane festival committee, with help from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rio Grande County, SLV Ski Hi Stampede, Monte Vista school district, and the city of Monte Vista.

Approximate distances to Monte Vista: Denver, 220 miles; Colorado Springs, 182 miles; Salida, 85 miles; Vail, 175 miles; Durango, 135 miles; Grand Junction, 230 miles.

For more information on the Monte Vista Crane Festival, see: http://www.cranefest.com.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

Pueblo: Action 22 conference, March 13, to focus on energy development and water issues

From The Pueblo Chieftain:

The future of water and energy in Southern Colorado will be the focus of an Action 22 conference next month. “Managing water and energy resources will be critical to Colorado’s future. How we manage these valuable assets over the next 10 to 20 years will have lasting impacts well into the 21st century,” said Cathy Garcia, Action 22 executive director. “The first step in wise resource management is to understand technical, financial and legal issues that govern Colorado’s policy decisions.”

The Water and Energy Conference, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 13 at the Pueblo Convention Center, will feature 15 speakers who will discuss state water issues, including hydraulic fracturing regulations and techniques.

John Stulp, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s water adviser, will deliver the luncheon keynote address. Other top state water officials also will be on hand.

There will be a review of Fountain Creek watershed protection efforts in the aftermath of the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire. Fracking presentations will be in the morning, while the statewide water topics are featured in the afternoon.

Action 22 is an association representing governments, individuals and other interests throughout a 22-county area of Southern Colorado.

Cost is $70 per person ($60 for members of Action 22). Lunch-only registration to hear John Stulp is halfpriced. A detailed agenda and registration is available at Action22.org or by calling Garcia at 1-888-799-1799.

The Willow Creek Restoration Committee is celebrating their 15 year anniversary

From The Mineral County Miner (Guinevere Nelson):

The Creede Mining District had many waste rock piles, seeps, mine adits and mill tailings when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE) performed their preliminary assessment of Willow Creek in 1994. The findings prompted further inspection of Willow Creek’s water and were summarized into a report in 1997.

This report provided the basis for listing the Creede Mining District on the National Priorities List under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-pensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund Act.

The Superfund Listing encompassed the entire Creede Mining District, including both branches of Willow Creek. The consequences of Superfund designation on Creede’s tourist based economy were unknown, but a few concerned citizens were not interested in finding out.

Steve Russell from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Mark Haugen of the Rio Grande Soil Conservation Service and with the support of the City of Creede, held a meeting and informed attendees about the proposed listing.

A year later, the Willow Creek Reclamation Committee was taking action to address the issues causing poor water quality in Willow Creek without EPA intervention. The Creede Mining District was not listed as a Superfund Site and the Willow Creek Reclamation Committee went to work.

To complete their work, the WCRC defined six core goals to guide their efforts: 1) Protect the Rio Grande from future fish kills associated with nonpoint source releases during unusual hydrologic events. 2) Improve the visual and aesthetic aspects of the Willow Creek watershed and its historical mining district. 3) Implement appropriate and cost-effective flood control and stabilization measures for nonpoint sources. 4) Protect and preserve historic structures. 5) Reclaim the Willow Creek floodplain below Creede to improve the physical, chemical, biological and aesthetic qualities of the creek as an integral part of the local community. 6) Continue to improve water quality and physical habitat quality in the Willow Creek watershed as part of a long-term watershed management program.

From its inception, the Willow Creek Project has had a firm commitment to find innovative, non-regulatory approaches to improve the water quality in Willow Creek and to protect the gold medal fishery in the Rio Grande River downstream – a premier fly-fishing stream. Local residents were ready and eager to apply best management practices (BMP’s) to reduce the metals in the stream so that water quality standards could be achieved, only to find out that the information and data on the sources and loadings of the metals were incomplete. The WCRC received CDPHE funding and spent from 1999-2003 sampling surface water, groundwater, waste rock piles, mine pools, macroinvertebrates and fish to fill in the information gaps.

More restoration/reclamation coverage here.

Adams State University: The next meeting of the Rio Grande Compact Commission is March 21

Click here for the notice. Thanks to Matt Hardesty for sending it along attached to email.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

Rio Grande River Basin: Dam repairs set for Beaver Creek Reservoir

Here’s the release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will start a two-year construction project this summer to repair the dam at Beaver Creek Reservoir. If work proceeds as planned, the 4,400-acre-foot reservoir will be filled again by summer of 2015.

Problems with the 100-year-old dam structure were discovered in 2010. Since then the reservoir has been drawn down to about half of its capacity. The reservoir, located about 5 miles south of South Fork in the San Luis Valley, is owned by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the water is used for irrigation, fishing recreation and to maintain wildlife habitat. Because it sits high in the Rio Grande River drainage, the reservoir also plays a major role in overall water management in the San Luis Valley.

“Colorado Parks and Wildlife works closely with other water entities throughout the valley and Beaver Creek Reservoir is an important link in the overall system,” said Rick Basagoitia, area wildlife manager in Monte Vista.

Fishing at the popular reservoir will be allowed to continue through this year. No fish have been stocked at the reservoir since 2011; however, there are still plenty of kokanee, brown trout and rainbow trout in the reservoir. Accessing the water requires walking down the steep-sided slopes of the reservoir, so anglers are urged to be careful.

Early in 2014 the reservoir will be drained completely to accommodate construction activity.
Stocking of fish will resume in 2015. Two U.S. Forest Service campgrounds near the reservoir will also remain open during construction.

In the first phase of the project the spillway will be rebuilt. That work will start in July and should be completed by about December.

Phase two is planned to start in April 2014 and will include building a new abutment support for the dam, improvements to the outlet tunnel and a building to house equipment. That work is planned for completion by early winter 2014.

The estimated cost for the project is about $15 million.

The reservoir is located on National Forest System Lands. If anyone wants to comment on the dam repair plan, comments should be sent to: Tom Malecek, District Ranger, 13308 West Hwy 160, Del Norte, CO 81132; FAX Number: 719-657-6035. The office business hours for those submitting hand-delivered comments are: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Oral comments can be made via telephone during normal business hours at 719-657-3321 or in person. Electronic comments may be submitted to comments-rocky-mountain-rio-grande-divide@fs.fed.us or online at the project webpage http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/rio-grande/landmanagement/projects under “Comment on Project”. Comments must be submitted by March 8.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

San Luis Valley irrigators await CRP funds ahead of fallowing land

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

Groundwater irrigators in the San Luis Valley are awaiting a pair of approvals for a federal program that would pay some to retire farmland and conserve water use. Tim Davis, a consultant for the groundwater subdistrict that hopes to fallow 40,000 acres in the northcentral part of the valley, said Thursday that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack still must authorize the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program for the area. Moreover, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget also must authorize spending for the program, which could send up to $109 million in federal funds over 15 years to subdistrict farmers who fallow land. “We’re getting very close to putting this thing on the ground,” Davis told farmers at the Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference and Trade Fair.

The subdistrict, which is entering its second year of operation, would add up to $27.3 million in fallowing payments over the same period. The subdistrict was designed, in part, to reduce the use of groundwater from the unconfined aquifer, which is at its lowest level since monitoring began in the 1970s. The federal payment would be $175 per acre per year and allow farmers to use 18 inches of water over a 36­month period to establish a cover crop. The subdistrict also would pay a share but will include bonuses to farmers who choose to fallow and sit just north of the Rio Grande between Monte Vista and Del Norte. The subdistrict’s goal there is to restore a groundwater formation known as the hydraulic divide, which it hopes will reduce losses to the river caused by groundwater pumping.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Ongoing Research Illustrates Benefits of Acequias

From the New Mexico Acequia Association (Quita Ortiz):

For the past decade, Dr. Sam Fernald, a watershed management professor in the Range Sciences Department at New Mexico State University, has led an effort to research acequias, New Mexico’s centuries-old irrigation and water governance system, in the community of Alcalde in Rio Arriba County, specifically surrounding the hydrology characteristics of acequias and how they interact with shallow groundwater. This acequia hydrology research dates back to the early 2000’s and a few years later a land use change analysis in Alcalde was incorporated into Dr. Fernald’s hydrology research to gain a better understanding of how land use change can impact water management, riparian ecosystems, and acequia culture. Knowing that acequias were at particular risk due to increasing urbanization pressures and the potential impacts on actual water use, water quality, and riparian vegetation along irrigation ditches and streams, the connections between land use and water management were apparent.

Dr. Fernald’s early hydrology studies were promising for acequias, indicating a reciprocal relationship between flood irrigating and groundwater recharge as well as contributing to the riparian vegetation in our communities, generating ecosystem services by providing a diverse habitat for wildlife. He’s been persistent at obtaining funds to continue and expand this research and was successful in obtaining a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which is currently funding a four-year multidisciplinary research effort to model the sustainability of acequias. This study is taking acequias into account as holistic systems that link water, environment, and cultural livelihood. This research aims to understand how and why acequias have remained resilient in face of urbanization, ever increasing water demands, and climate change. Project partners include NMSU, UNM, New Mexico Tech, Sandia Laboratories, and the New Mexico Acequia Association.

The human aspect of acequias has now become part of this process and researchers are now studying acequias in a much more inclusive manner, characterizing them as the sustainable water management systems that they embody. Furthermore, they’re being researched on a larger geographic scale by establishing the link between the valleys that acequias irrigate and their upland watershed, not only as the source of water but also taking into account the land base from which acequia users harvest timber and graze livestock.

The current research effort, which is now in its third year, expanded the study site from Alcalde to also include acequias along the El Rito (Rio Chama tributary) and Rio Hondo (Rio Grande tributary) stream systems in north central New Mexico. All three sites support acequia-related activities, but they differ in their physical geography, water availability, and spatial patterns such as proximity to urban centers.

There are number of threats to acequia communities that have been identified including population growth, climate change, and policies that regulate land and water resources. Acequias have a good track record for their ability to adapt to changes that have been induced largely by urbanization and modified economic structures. But they are now facing challenges with increased intensity and complexity. Examples include prolonged drought and determined water markets aimed at transferring water out of rural communities to other uses.

Using different modeling approaches, the hydrology results show that seepage from earthen ditches and field percolation recharge the shallow aquifer. This, in turn, becomes groundwater flow for future use as it holds the water upstream for a longer period. Floodplain models indicate that groundwater recharge would be affected if earthen canals and their related activities were eliminated, reducing overall aquifer recharge. So even though there are technologies that are intended to conserve water, they don’t address the fact that there’s a key connection between surface and groundwater supplies. Drip irrigation, for example, might conserve upfront water use, but it’s also allowing more water to run downstream sooner.

Dr. José Rivera, a UNM professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, has led the sociocultural research surrounding this study and was assisted by retired UNM professor, Dr. Sylvia Rodriguez, and the New Mexico Acequia Association staff. Focus groups were conducted in summer 2012 at the different study sites and gleaned a wealth of sociocultural data surrounding acequia water sharing and distribution customs; water governance; food, seed and agriculture traditions; land use and land ownership trends; livestock and ranching trends; and mutualism, which involves community cohesion such as shared cultural values and participation in other community endeavors (for example, livestock associations and mutual domestic water associations). In other words, this facet of the research attempts to understand why acequias maintain their traditions despite the many external forces working against rural livelihoods.

Other data that were incorporated into this study include economics and land use. Future steps include integrating all of the quantifiable data into a model which can then simulate different scenarios that depict the sustainability of acequias. This involves using the two major stressors, population growth and climate change, to determine amount of stress that would impose irreversible impacts to the entire system. Hopefully this data will provide acequias with a framework that assists them in recognizing steps that would help to evade potential negative scenarios. The goal of this research is to determine how acequias can provide insight into resource sustainability by understanding their capacity to adapt; and identify potential strategies for acequias to continue adapting to ongoing changes in the areas of economics, resource policy, and climate change.
From an academic perspective, we’re beginning to understand the relationship between acequia irrigation ditches and the natural environment at the regional watershed scale. Most acequia research endeavors to date have been segregated into different fields—policy, local water governance, water rights adjudication, water transfers, land use change, agricultural economics, etc. However, this study is the first in New Mexico that views acequias as the complex system that they symbolize. An acequia is not simply an irrigation ditch; rather it represents a multifaceted system characterized by humans that have historically worked with the environment in a sustainable manner by combining water governance, agriculture, resource management, and cultural identity.

As part of this NSF-funded research effort, the group will host a symposium, “Acequias and the Future of Resilience in Global Perspective” which is being coordinated by Dr. Sylvia Rodriguez. It will bring together scholars from around the world to share their research on similar human-environment systems. The symposium will be followed by a workshop featuring panelists that are working on acequias issues in New Mexico to discuss the future steps that are necessary regarding research and policy to ensure ongoing acequia resiliency. It will be held at the Las Cruces Convention Center on March 2nd and 3rd. To register for this event visit http://globalperspectives2013.wrri.nmsu.edu/. If you have questions about this event or this project, feel free to contact NMAA.

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

San Luis Valley: Aquifer levels are moving in the wrong direction #codrought

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

The shallow groundwater aquifer leaned on heavily by farmers in the north­central part of the San Luis Valley continued its drought-driven slide in 2012. Allen Davey, engineer for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, released calculations showing the aquifer declined by 123,000 acrefeet from 2011. Since the district began monitoring the section of the aquifer in 1976, its volume has dropped by 1.2 million acre­feet.

The drop comes despite the fallowing of nearly 30,000 acres and a roughly 20 percent decline in groundwater pumping from wells in Subdistrict No. 1. Subdistrict No. 1, which includes roughly 3,400 irrigation wells in the north­central valley, assesses fees on its members to take farm ground out of production and reduce pressure on the aquifer also while providing mitigation to other water users who are harmed by the pumping.

Steve Vandiver, the district’s manager, pointed to a sustained history of poor flows on the Rio Grande as the cause of the decline. “The problem as I see it is the recovery rate, whether we’re pumping or not, is dependent on what the river runs,” he said. “If we’re in sustained drought, we’re going to have little or no diversions and little or no recovery.” The main source of recharge for the shallow, or unconfined, aquifer comes in the spring when ditches divert from the Rio Grande and deposit that water on farmers’ fields where it waters crops, then filters down. Once the river’s flows dwindle in summer, many valley farmers then turn on their groundwater pumps to pull water from the aquifer and finish their crops through the remainder of the growing season.

“If we don’t have runoff to support this system we have to do more and more to get this turned around,” Vandiver said. He said the subdistrict would have more money to pay for fallowing in 2013.

Travis Smith, who represents the valley on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, said expanded regulation of pumping through the rest of the valley was needed to help recover the aquifer.

More Rio Grande Basin coverage here.

Rio Grande Roundtable recap: ‘Our projects are good projects’ — Travis Smith #riogrande

From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):

This month the local Rio Grande Roundtable, a group representing various water interests in the basin, decided to send five more projects to the state for funding. If the state board approves these requests during the March Colorado Water Conservation Board meeting, Valley water projects will see another approximately $2 million from statewide water funds, plus $195,000 from the basin funds…

“It’s getting more and more competitive,” Gibson said. “This basin’s been extremely fortunate in the past. We’ve got good projects that have been funded. We’ve got good projects that have been completed. We’ve got good projects that are still underway, but we need to think about reality. If you were on the CWCB board would you be willing to give two-thirds of the account remaining in the statewide account to us when we have been able to dip into that pocket the deepest?”

CWCB staffer Greg Johnson said that has not been an issue in the past, and he did not know how much that might enter into the CWCB’s discussions in the future. He said it might depend on how much competition there is for the funding.

Roundtable and CWCB member Travis Smith said the board has criteria and guidelines in place to judge all of the projects coming in from around the state, and those will be crucial in determining the best projects for funding when there is not enough money to fund them all.

“Our projects are good projects so I am anticipating we are going to have success,” he said.”[...]

Re-elected Roundtable Vice-chairman Rio de la Vista suggested the roundtable might need to prioritize its projects in the event not all of them receive funding in March. The roundtable members might need to choose which projects could be put off until the September CWCB meeting. ..

[Greg Johnson] said although the state funding has been cut significantly, “the good news is we do have a little bit more than we thought we did.”

The state account will have a balance in March of $4.5 million, rather than the $3 million that was anticipated, he said.

More IBCC — basin roundtables coverage here.