A meeting converged between local leaders and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper where the discussion was on water, especially the severe shortage for the Dolores Project and all the ways that impact cascades to affect Montezuma County’s ecological health and economy.
Moderator Ken Curtis, Dolores Water Conservancy District general manager, opened the round table Thursday afternoon with a note on the long career of the Dolores Project, which was built to serve irrigation, municipalities and industrial uses.
Twentieth-century hydrology seemed once to provide all the answers, but the last 26 years has been nothing short of a roller coaster, Curtis began. On top of 10 shortage years never anticipated, this year’s supply to farmers is roughly 10% – similar to a bad year like 2021.
“The melt off you mentioned senator, it was unbelievable,” Curtis said. “Nobody had seen a March like that. Record heat across Colorado, and particularly facing it here in the Southwest.”
Curtis focused on collaboration this summer despite hardships.
Ute Farm and Ranch was able to lease extra shares of water. This was thanks to Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co.’s acquiescence, a more senior water rights holder, while the city of Cortez through manager Drew Sanders – also in attendance Thursday – led a drought campaign and leased extra water the city did not use.
“It doesn’t move the needle much, but I really appreciate the cooperation going on around here,” Curtis said. “With that, we’re almost empty on 65 feet down, and we’re all shutting off this weekend. Cities get to keep running, but we’re finishing off and it’s August. We should be running to October.”
Hickenlooper, pen and paper in hand, jotted notes while several leaders from different governmental agencies and advocacy groups provided their takes on drought impacts for the agricultural, environmental, recreational, municipal and forest sectors.
Farming stories started the round table, where son and father touched on the grim economic reality overtaken by multiplying costs and extreme water shortages.
Landan Wilson said he was 22 when he purchased his first piece of farmland, but now believes a young person cannot simply start farming on their own.
Wilson said he was lucky to have support from his father, Brian Wilson, but the business in Pleasant View gets harder and harder and he worries about the future of the project.
“It's hard to make a living whenever things are out of your control. You got Mother Nature, you got the snowpack, allocation, cost of fertilizer – that's out of our control. The cost of fuel, that’s out of our control. Oftentimes, we receive the prices for our products,” Landan Wilson said.
San Juan National Forest representatives discussed watershed health connected to forest prosperity. Wildfires and mitigation were central themes, such as thinning timber to reduce wildfire severity. Forest representatives discussed post-Ferris Fire impacts, which caused significant destruction in remote parts that saw high rates of tree morality, though no homes or structures were lost.
Ryan Unterreiner, an aquatics specialist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, recounted tales of the dying native fishery. All the fish in the warm, isolated pools of the Lower Dolores River, running about 5 cubic feet per second below the dam, died following the Ferris Fire and monsoon rains that washed heavy ash and sediment into their otherwise stagnant pools.
While post-fire debris flows led to the devastating kill, Unterreiner noted a tiny silver lining. He said in the unspoiled sandstone, canyon country, debris flows and drought have likely cleared away the invasive smallmouth bass.
“That’s a pretty thin silver lining. Still, it’s a silver lining,” Hickenlooper said, who used to be a geologist.
Hickenlooper, who is running for reelection this November after winning in the June 30 Democratic primary, said during an interview that the personal narratives are vital to budget discussions in Washington and securing federal aid.
“For me, hearing some of the stories of all the smallmouth bass in the gulch and then dying the next day, they’re dead,” he said. “Those are the stories that help you get appropriations. It’s a vivid image of the consequence of the drought that I can't manufacture.”
Other leadership in attendance Thursday included Nina Williams of the Dolores Watershed Collaborative, Montezuma County commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer, Dolores County commissioner Eric Stiasny, multiple farmers, as well as Amber Clark of the Dolores River Boating Advocates.
awatson@the-journal.com
