Dust on snow making it more difficult for ranching in valley

“What’s been a good working relationship will get harder”

This is Part 3, and the final installment in our series reporting on the widespread impacts of dust on snow in the Gunnison Basin and beyond. Here we will investigate the implications of reduced stream flows and earlier runoff on ranching and water storage, and take a glimpse at others that covet Western Slope water.

There’s a delicate balancing act here of ranching, recreation, water storage and stream health. And when there isn’t enough water to go accommodate everyone’s ideal stream flows, challenging—and often contentious—decisions need to be made. Fortunately things haven’t reached a desperate level in the Gunnison Basin—yet. But if drought conditions and climate change continues, and dust on snow continues to negatively affect water yields and reschedule runoff, conflicts are sure to arise amidst the many stakeholders, near and far, looking for their fill.
After a dry September in the Gunnison Basin, and the continuation of what the experts call a nine- to ten- year drought, stream flows are currently running well below normal. Some of that deficit can certainly also be attributed to dust on snow, and the resulting reduction in overall runoff, paired with snowmelt occurring up to three weeks earlier in the spring.
For ranchers, low flows this time of year make it more difficult to irrigate fields, and raise potential conflicts between recreation and ranching. Significant water is released during the summer from storage facilities like the Taylor Reservoir to accommodate recreation, be it for the boating or fly fishing industry. However, that is not the time of year ranchers need higher stream flows; they need adequate flows in the fall to irrigate their fields as they prepare next season’s hay crop, and bolster feed for cattle that will graze on-site through the winter.
“They need early and late flows,” confirmed Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District manager Frank Kugel.
“The ranchers have been able to establish that late-season irrigation is critical for getting a good start on next year’s hay crop, so they try to bring up subsurface water levels as they approach winter. It brings the grass in healthier next year, and then it requires less water. Good coverage in the fall equals a good crop in the following year. And it helps grow grass for fall pasture, and provides drinking water out of the ditch.”
According to Steve Glazer, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District board member and water program director for the non-profit High Country Citizens’ Alliance, “As we anticipated, the accelerated runoff last spring has diminished late-season flows. After cutting hay, the ranchers put water back on their pastures to allow the grass to continue to grow. Low flows in our streams make it harder to get sufficient water into diversion structures.
“Low flows in the East River last week almost caused Ken Spann to ‘call’ for water,” Glazer continued. “Instead, he called Bill Lacy and told him his junior upstream diversions were preventing him from getting his full share of the river. Instead of having the East River administered, Lacy reduced his diversions on his own. This means that Lacy is no longer having his junior right fully met.”
Local third-generation rancher Bill Trampe said he is adapting on the fly. “We just deal on a year-to-year basis,” he explained. “You do the best you can with what you’ve got. We don’t plan to irrigate two weeks earlier [to accommodate earlier runoff due to dust on snow]; we watch the snowmelt and adapt accordingly. We’ve been around for a while—you get a feel for these things.”
As supplies wane, however, adapting on the fly will become more challenging, and can potentially create conflict between stakeholders. “What’s been a good working relationship will get harder,” said Trampe. “Our community is much more for tourism and recreation than ranching. They like the viewscape, the open spaces. But we’re not just an amenity; we’re a business. We have to do what we have to do.”
According to Trampe, it’s some of the more southerly creeks in the basin that are impacted first, and hardest. “The East, Slate and Taylor rivers produce a lot of water… it’s even more of an issue for the Tomichi and Cochetopa, the smaller creeks. The Tomichi runs much quicker [earlier] and it makes their season a little different,” said Trampe.
From the storage and supply side, storage in Blue Mesa Reservoir on September 30, 2010, for example, was 0.626 maf (million acre feet), or 75 percent of capacity, after below-average snowpack conditions prevailed in the Gunnison Basin during water year 2010. But downstream, things are far leaner. Lake Mead, for example, is at only 39 percent of capacity. It makes the likelihood of downstream states calling for Upper Basin water all the more likely in the future.
Indeed, things are dire downstream. In a recent New York Times article, Paul Quinlan wrote, “Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir of Colorado River water that hydrates Arizona, Nevada, California and northern Mexico, is receding to a level not seen since it was first being filled in the 1930s, stoking existential fears about water supply in the parched Southwest.”
Meanwhile, the long-term weather forecast is calling for “La Nina” conditions, which often lead to dry conditions in the southwest region. And the Colorado River is already dramatically overextended, even in “wet” years. The 1922 Colorado River Compact estimated the river’s water flow at 16.4 million acre-feet per year and divided that up among seven states and Mexico. It’s now believed scientists overestimated the flow by as much as two million to three million acre-feet because they measured during one of the wettest centuries in the last 500 to 1,200 years.
With Lake Mead reaching some of its lowest water levels since it was created, are there implications for the Gunnison Basin? According to Glazer, “At this time, only indirectly. The likelihood of equalization releases from Lake Powell in 2011 is increasing. When Powell can no longer assist the Upper Basin states in meeting our delivery obligations to the Lower Basin, there will be direct implications and impacts moving up the Colorado River into the Gunnison Basin.”
Meanwhile, Colorado’s arid Front Range is always clamoring for Western Slope water, whether in the form of trans-mountain diversions and/or acquiring water rights. According to Trampe, “If Colorado is dumb enough to overdevelop the Colorado River, there will be a [Colorado River] Compact curtailment.” And, he continued, “Front Range cities are going to come to the West Slope to condemn or acquire senior water rights.”
All indications are that water supplies will define the future of the southwest more than any other factor. Dust on snow is one of many symptoms of human-induced climate change, and the destructive effects unchecked recreation and grazing can have on the physical environment.
As for mitigating the effects of dust on snow, a number of movements are amiss, from pinpointing source areas for on-the-ground rehabilitation, to altering and improving water storage. Glazer explained one particular study that is under way. “An engineer at AMEC in Boulder, Ben Harding, has modeled where the losses of yield due to DOS (dust on snow) are occurring. We hope to get and use this information to help us focus on where small vessels might be built to help capture some of the water that is not recharging groundwater so it can be used to supplement late-season flows.”
In the meantime, look for the various stakeholders, from ranchers to recreationists to Front Range developers, to compete for their slice of an increasingly shrinking pie while the scientists work to understand, and mitigate, the effects of dust on snow in the Gunnison Basin and beyond.