The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
What works in GJ doesn’t necessarily work here
[ by Mark Reaman ]
As prominent local rancher Bill Trampe transitions away from the Colorado River Water Conservation District Board of Directors, he told the Gunnison County commissioners last week that he has some concerns about the future of high-altitude agriculture as practiced in the Gunnison Valley and water in general. He updated the county commissioners on Tuesday, December 15, saying that there is not a one-size-fits-all way to protect water on Colorado’s Western Slope.
He said that the process to use money to be raised for the Conservation District through ballot issue 7A—which was approved by voters last November and would protect water resources in Western Colorado—is still being figured out.
“The money will most likely go to infrastructure updates and municipal water supply assistance for smaller towns like Ouray,” he said. “Since the election, most of the board seems to think the funds should be matched with local money. One of my concerns I see is that most of the money would go to infrastructure and municipalities. Down the road I am concerned there won’t be enough focus on things like agriculture in the high country.”
Trampe explained that irrigating at this altitude is different from that in lower valleys. He said putting water from ditches onto ranching meadows is “unique” in places like the Gunnison Valley. Farming is different from ranching when it comes to water practices. “As we go into the future, demand management coupled with drought and climate change requires a difference in management with water. Using low-country techniques for irrigation in the high country doesn’t always work.”
Commissioner Jonathan Houck asked if there was “a push to have basins like ours use techniques that could be detrimental to us.”
Trampe said that could indeed be an issue and said, for example, while farms can use sprinklers to irrigate meadows efficiently, that technique would not work up here and could have long-range negative ramifications. The flooding of meadows used here to grow hay feeds an array of plants and impacts the timing of stream flows as the water is absorbed into the aquifer.
“I think some of the money from the new tax should go to research over new grasses or alfalfa that take less water to grow. We can possibly do a better job with the ditches. But the bottom line is we need to protect agriculture in our basin and the Gunnison Valley. We have a severe drought going and we need a lot of snow. Drought management will be a bigger issue as we move into spring.”
Trampe said that while some things could be done to improve the water system, some legal issues present a hurdle. Water law is not simple and even something like removing willows from ditch banks that would result in more water running through the ditch could have legal ramifications.
Commissioner Roland Mason asked if doing things like improving ditches to make them less leaky could be an easy way to save water.
Trampe said piping the ditches would save water, but leaky ditches actually improve Gunnison sage grouse habitat. “It’s not an easy thing to just go out there and start piping,” he said. “It is interesting how all of these things fit together.”
The county commissioners are considering who to endorse to replace Trampe on the Conservation District board. Interviews are scheduled for December 29 with an appointment expected just after New Year’s.
