Drought plan rolling out in county

“Prioritize your trees over your lawns…every drop counts” 

[  By Katherine Nettles ]

As Mother’s Day approaches and warmer weather returns, many residents in the valley have gotten well into spring gardening mode. But water experts are signaling how to prepare for drought and its associated environmental hazards such as wildfires, soil depletion and water supply shortages this summer. Despite Wednesday’s blast of winter snow, drought outreach campaign is underway, and the overall message is to consider delaying new garden projects this year. 

Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD) general manager Sonja Chavez explained to Gunnison County commissioners last week how the UGRWCD has rolled out a drought outreach campaign with monthly conditions updates, signs and stakeholder meetings.

The district had a drought outreach campaign in 2022 as well, and then embarked on a Drought Contingency Planning Process from 2023 to 2025 which generated an Upper Gunnison Drought Plan. 

Chavez said the idea is to reconvene a drought task force this year. “We’re developing our plan but really focusing on our appreciation of our water in our valley and our need to conserve this year.”

The district will have a drought dashboard on its website, uppergunnisondroughtplan.org, providing information on stream flows, soil moisture data and recreation information.  

Chavez said she wants to make sure people know the biggest place they can conserve water is their outdoor water use. “You should prioritize your trees over your lawns, maybe not start any new landscaping projects this year.” She said the district is holding off on its own plans to implement a new xeriscape garden. “Usually when you try to get those plants going you need to water them every day, so we’re putting that off. But every drop counts, and if you skip a few days your lawn will be okay.”

Chavez said they also want to help people prepare for using local rivers responsibly and safely. 

“If you’re going to float the river you should know that you can’t get out of your boat and trespass on private property,” said Chavez. 

Chavez noted that people should get information about which sections they are floating before heading out, and most commercial outfitters can help fill people in.

County commissioner Liz Smith asked how fish are affected by lower flows.

Chavez said fisheries are absolutely impacted and there may be calls put out on the rivers to stop fishing at noon or not fish at all during the hottest parts of the day or during high temperature periods. “We’ve seen some moose coming down a little bit lower trying to find water throughout the basin,” she added. 

She said agriculturally there are also concerns. 

“We did hear that areas of the North Fork, where they are growing a lot of grapes and other fruit, had a blowout on Fire Mountain Canal that left them without water for over two weeks,” reported Chavez. “They are also saying that in June they will run out of water in Paonia Reservoir. Normally they can stretch that out through July.”

Chavez said she has heard many producers in that area are cutting the fruit buds off their trees to forgo the crop this year but preserve the trees. “Everybody is getting as creative as they can with the water supply that they have, to just get through this year and hope for a better season.”

UGRWCD social media followers and viewers, particularly on Instagram, have increased and Chavez said they can use those platforms to keep people updated as well. 

Colorado River users deadlock 

 UGRWCD general counsel John McClow gave an update on Colorado River negotiations as well.

Declining reservoir storage for the Colorado River and below average precipitation have underscored the need for the seven basin states the river serves to find an agreement on how to manage the over-allocations. 

The 2007 Interim Guidelines for the operations of Lake Powell and Mead expire at the end of 2026, and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has requested a new agreement on how to manage key reservoirs for up to 20 years into the future. Those negotiations started in 2024, and have yet to gain traction.

McClow reviewed that on April 21, the Upper Colorado River commission agreed to releases of 600,000 to one million acre-feet from Flaming Gorge to shore up Lake Powell; those releases started on April 23. The commission presented it on the condition that the BOR reduce the releases from Lake Powell to six million acre-feet for this year, added McClow, and the BOR agreed.

The upper division states proposed that the Colorado Compact states meet with a mediator to work on consensus for drought management, but McClow said the lower division states have not yet agreed to mediation.  “It looks like we’ll continue with the stalemate and [the BOR] will step in with their solutions,” he said.