Lessons from the Roan

By David Nickum For more than a decade, the battle over Colorado’s Roan Plateau—a beautiful green oasis surrounded by oil and gas development—raged in meetings and in courtrooms. At issue: Would the “drill, baby, drill” approach to public lands carry the day and the path of unrestrained energy development run over one of Colorado’s most valuable wildlife areas? Or would “lock it up” advocates preclude all development of the Roan’s major natural gas reserves?

Luckily, this story has a happy ending—and a lesson for Colorado and other states in the West struggling with how to balance the need for energy development with conservation of public lands and irreplaceable natural resources.

The Bureau of Land Management recently issued its final plan for the Roan Plateau, closing the most valuable habitat on top of the plateau to oil and gas leases. The plan, which will guide management of the area for the next 20 years, also acknowledges the importance of wildlife habitat corridors connecting to winter range at the base of the Plateau.

At the same time, the BLM management plan allows responsible development to proceed in less-sensitive areas of the plateau that harbor promising natural gas reserves and can help meet our domestic energy needs.

What happened? After years of acrimony and lawsuits, stakeholders on all side of the issue sat down and hammered out a balanced solution. Everyone won.

It’s too bad it took lawsuits and years of impasse to get all sides to do what they could have done early on: Listen to each other. We all could have saved a lot of time, money and tears.

The Roan example is a lesson to remember, as the incoming administration looks at how to tackle the issue of energy development on public lands.

There’s a better way, and it’s working in Colorado.

The BLM also this month, incorporating stakeholder input, closed oil and gas leasing in several critical habitat areas in the Thompson Divide—another Colorado last best place—while permitting leasing to go ahead in adjacent areas.

That plan also represents an acknowledgment that some places are too special to drill, while others can be an important part of meeting our energy needs.

And in the South Park area—a vast recreational playground for the Front Range and an important source of drinking water for Denver and the Front Range—the BLM is moving ahead with a Master Leasing Plan (MLP) for the area that would identify, from the outset, both those places and natural resources that need to be protected and the best places for energy leasing to proceed.

We have said that we want federal agencies in charge of public lands to involve local and state stakeholders more closely in land management planning—that perceived disconnect has been the source of criticism and conflict in the West regarding federal oversight of public lands.

The MLP process is a new tool that promises to address some of that top-down, fragmented approach to public land management. To their credit, the BLM is listening and incorporating suggestions from local ranchers, conservation groups and elected officials into their leasing plan for South Park.

This landscape level, “smart from the start” approach is one way for stakeholders to find consensus on commonsense, balanced solutions that allow careful, responsible energy development to occur while protecting our most valuable natural resources.

The lesson I take from the Roan? We can find solutions through respectful dialogue—and we shouldn’t wait for litigation to do so. Coloradoans can meet our needs for energy development and for preserving healthy rivers and lands by talking earlier to each other and looking for common ground.

Peaks to Plains Trail

By: David Amalong, Newsletter Editor for West Denver TU. This original article was posted in the Angler's Edge newsletter by West Denver Trout Unlimited.

The first segment of the Peaks to Plains Trail through Clear Creek Canyon opened to the public on July 28, 2016. This initial 3-mile segment of trail along Clear Creek and US Highway 6 in Clear Creek Canyon is just one piece of a much broader vision.

The Peaks to Plains Trail is envisioned to be a 65- mile off-highway trail that will allow travel from the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower Tunnel to the confluence of Clear Creek and the South Platte River in Adams County. The recently completed segment is the result of a partnership between Jeffco Open Space and Clear Creek County Open Space.

The trail includes not only 3 miles of a paved multiuse trail, but features 3 bridges, 6 new formal river access points and multiple overlooks and boulder seating areas. Other improvements include two new parking lots and an expanded parking lot and restroom at Mayhem Gulch. The parking lots are a key component to bringing a new types of visitor to Clear Creek Canyon; cyclists, hikers and walkers.

The majority of the trail meanders along “quieter side” of the Creek, opposite of Highway 6. In doing so, the trail travels through a variety of landscapes, from open meadows, rocky overlooks, and riparian sections close to the Creek. It also gains some elevation in areas offering some great views down into the Creek. Areas that were disturbed by construction have been re-vegetated with native grasses, shrubs and trees.

On several occasions, I have had the opportunity to experience the trail as a fisherman. However; on a recent crisp Saturday morning, I put away my fly rod walked most of the trail to take in all aspects of the trail.

It was encouraging to see extended families walking the trail, leaning over the guardrail at an overlook pointing to trout rising behind a large boulder. Joggers pushing strollers paused at the overlooks on the bridges to catch their breath. Cyclists were numerous and one group took advantage of the informal boulder seating areas to stop for a picnic lunch. There were crowds of climbers at all of the popular areas, and fisherman were ducking in and out of the willows along the banks.

As hard as I tried to be a “pedestrian” and just simply walk the trail, I couldn’t stop myself from making mental notes of all of the new fishing access points to the Creek. With much of the trail being on the opposite side of the Creek from the road, there is a LOT of new creek access. I will honor the tradition of not divulging secret fishing spots, but I have discovered that this trail offers access to great new water that was either difficult or impossible to access in the past.

My overall impression of the trail was extremely positive. The materials used through compliment the character of the Canyon. The improved parking areas provide additional spaces and greatly improve visitor safety and the new signage is clear and concise. The biggest improvement; however, is the trail. It allows visitors to disconnect from Highway 6 and truly immerse themselves in the Creek, the Canyon, and the Landscape.

The next evolution in Clear Creek Canyon will be the design and construction of the Mouth of Clear Creek Canyon. It will extend the existing multi-use trail associated with the Golden Mile through Downtown Golden upstream to Tunnel 1. The concept features two new pedestrian bridges as well as the proposed Welch Ditch Tail which will improve climbing access and connect the Peaks to Plains trail to Chimney Gulch Trail. Parking areas will be upgraded in two locations to accommodate the large demand in this stretch.

The Animas: a vision of health

By Randy Scholfield

Take a look at this picture. Yes, there is hope for the Animas River.

You remember the Gold King mine spill from last August, which dumped 3 million gallons of toxic heavy metal sludge into the upper Animas and sent a yellow-orange plume sweeping downstream through Durango and on into New Mexico.

Amazingly, the spill didn’t seem to immediately impact the Gold Medal trout population through Durango. And a recent survey of the fish population confirmed that they’re doing well.  Again, that picture, taken during the survey, speaks volumes.

But the fact remains that the Animas—and many other rivers and streams across the West—remain  impaired by day-in, day-out toxic mine seepage. On the Animas watershed, the discharge amounts to a Gold King spill every few days. You can’t see it, but it’s there—and has been for decades.

That’s why the upper few miles of the Animas, below Silverton to about Cascade Creek, are largely barren of fish and aquatic life.

A couple weeks ago, I met my colleague Ty Churchwell for a tour of the new Superfund sites in San Juan County, including the Gladstone area, home of the Gold King Mine. It was eye-opening.

The abandoned mine complex surrounding the town of Silverton is extensive and daunting. Amid the spectacular fall colors and scenery, the mountains are pockmarked with leaking adits, tunnels and waste piles. For years, Churchwell told me, the Animas River Stakeholders Group has worked to identify and characterize each site – what’s the chemistry of the discharge, is the site public, private or abandoned?

The ARSG identified roughly 60 trouble sites, a mixture of point- and nonpoint-source (the former could be a leaking mine opening, or adit, the latter is more dispersed runoff, such as from a waste pile). And they set out to address some of the sites they could legally clean up (the non-point source sites).

Of those 60 sites, four are particularly bad and make up the lion’s share of pollutants entering the Animas watershed. These four mines alone contribute some 800-1,000 gallons per minute. That’s about 1 million gallons of toxic water flowing every 3 days out of these tunnels—the equivalent of a Gold King spill.

The EPA, in creating the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund site, included 47 sites that together discharge about 5.4 million gallons a day into the Animas. That amounts to almost 2 Gold King spills every single day.

“The trout are the canary in the coal mine—they’re an indicator species,” says Churchwell. “We’re trying to bring back water quality in the Silverton area that will support a healthy ecosystem—that, in turn, will support a variety of uses, from recreation and agriculture to community water supply.”

Silverton is beginning to recognize the economic opportunity of a healthier river—cleaner water quality could lead to expanded opportunities for fly-fishing and tubing. And the Superfund remediation work itself could put many locals to work cleaning up mines.

Under the Superfund plan, the present temporary water treatment plant below the Gold King mine will eventually be replaced by a permanent water treatment plant that will tap the runoff of the four worst mines (all within a half-mile of each other) and pipe it to the treatment plant, where it will be brought up to standards and then discharged back into Cement Creek.

Good Samaritan legislation also remains a top priority for Trout Unlimited. Put simply, Good Sam creates a new discharge permit category that makes it easier for qualified Good Sam groups to help clean up abandoned mines. The permits allow for a lower standard for cleanups (30-50 percent, say, not 95 percent as under current Clean Water Act regulations) and there’s a sunset clause that doesn’t hold Good Sam groups responsible for cleanup costs in perpetuity– that’s been a financial dealbreaker for most groups.

The Bandora mine, which we reach on a rocky, bumpy four-wheel-drive road, is a great candidate for Good Sam, says Churchwell.  We park and huff up to an old wooden mine structure, with orange runoff leaching down the hillside into South Mineral Creek, which eventually flows into the Animas.

Pointing to a broad valley below us, Churchwell says it’s a good place for a “bioreactor”—basically, a created marsh area that will naturally filter and clean the water over the long-term.

Taken together, these cleanup approaches could eventually bring the upper Animas below Silverton to a level of water quality that will support a healthy trout fishery.  It probably won’t ever match the Gold Medal waters through Durango, but it could be a local source of pride and offer several miles of quality fishing.

Take another look at that trout picture. The Animas is worth fighting for—and TU is in it for the long haul.

Go to the We Are the Animas website to learn more about TU's efforts to clean up this great Western river.

Randy Scholfield is TU’s communications director for the Southwest region.

TU's Jason Willis Wins Watershed Award

Trout Unlimited's Mine Restoration Field Manager, Jason Willis, was awarded with the 2016 Excellence in Project Implementation award from the Water Quality Control Division – Non-Point Source Program (NPS) at the Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference on October 10-13. The award was for work on finishing up the Kerber Creek project on June 30, thus closing out two phases of 319 Non-Point Source grant funds. The project includes restoring just under 11 miles of stream through installation of in-stream and bank stabilization structures, as well as treatment and revegetation of over 85 acres of mine tailings along the floodplain. This puts the restored portion of Kerber Creek at 43% of the total 25 miles in length from headwaters to confluence with San Luis Creek.

"It's gratifying to receive an award like this from a partner organization in front of all of my peers at the Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference, especially when there are so many other talented people working in this field," said Willis. "It also means a lot to TU because not only does it highlight a great project achievement, it also recognizes the ability of Trout Unlimited to conceptualize and carry-out successful mine reclamation clean-up projects."

TU is currently working on three other NPS funded projects on the Illinois Gulch (Breckenridge), Evans Gulch (Leadville), and Leavenworth Creek (Georgetown) watersheds. The Environmental Protection Agency describes Non-Point Source Pollution as pollution that, "results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters."

Along with the three NPS programs, there are mine reclamation efforts taking place at the Akron Mine (White Pine), Minnie Lynch Mine (Bonanza), and Santiago/Waldorf Mines (Georgetown) in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service, other agencies, and private partners such as Freeport McMoRan and Newmont Mining. All of these projects encompass improving water quality by reducing non-point source contamination through the use of applicable best management practices.

"There is a lot of work to do here in Colorado and the western US, so hopefully this is the first of many awards to follow in the name of improving our water quality."

CTU Fall Board and Leadership Meeting

Registration is now open for Colorado Trout Unlimited's Fall Board and Leadership Meeting. This meeting is a great opportunity for you to network with other TU leaders in the state and learn about what projects are currently happening. There will also be a tour of Hermosa Creek where participants will get a first hand look into a collaborative conservation project. This meeting will be held in Durango, CO the weekend of October 22-23.

Click on the registration link to find the agenda and learn more about the details of the weekend.

https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/7023/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=84398

Volunteer Opportunity

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is looking for help to stock Rock Creek on September 21 from 8:00 am - 3:30 pm. Volunteers will be meeting in Jefferson CO in between Bailey and Fairplay on 285, but exact location is still being determined. Volunteers will be packing their backpacks full of Greenback Cutthroat Trout and hiking about 5 miles to stock them in Rock Creek, their new home. This is part of a larger Greenback Recovery effort being led by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Volunteers will need:

• Water
• Hiking Boots (no waders)
• Lunch
• Large Pack/Backpack for hauling fish
• Sunscreen

If you are interested in participating or want more information on this project please contact Stephanie Scott. sscott@tu.org or 720-354-2647. Volunteers who sign up will be given more detailed information about the volunteer day upon sign up.

Victory for Native Trout

The Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI) has granted Colorado Trout Unlimited and the Cheyanne Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited $6000. Two $3,000 grants will be used to help bring public awareness to native trout and help further greenback genetic studies at Mt. Shavano Fish Hatchery. Western Native Trout Initiative is an organization dedicated to protecting native trout. They offer many different grant opportunities that provide conservation organizations with a means to realize their native trout projects.

Colorado Trout Unlimited (CTU), The Greenbacks and Trout Unlimited Chapters throughout the state have been propagating the good news story of greenback cutthroat trout. Throughout past months and years chapters across the state have thrown their time and energy into false greenbacks. No more. Chapter and state level advocates at CTU are working with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), Western Native Trout Initiative, and Cities to ensure greenbacks forever have a home on the Front Range.

Part of the state level involvement will be to create new signage to replace old signage marked with the wrong greenbacks. Signs will be erected at sights of greenback reintroduction to educate unknowing recreationists about the greenback. CPW is helping design and install signs. CTU and The Greenbacks will also be buying more 50 gallon tanks to be installed at the Mt. Shavano Fish Hatchery. Tanks will serve as brooding pens for the newly hatched greenback fry from Zimmerman Lake. Fry with like genetic crosses (WildXWild, WildXHatchery, HatcheryXHatchery) will be assigned to the same tank for research purposes.

At the chapter level the Cheyenne Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CMCTU) will be installing an exhibit: “Trout on Tejon”. The exhibit will feature sculpted greenbacks complete with educational plaque and possibly QRC code, strategically placed throughout Colorado Springs. Patrons of the Springs will soon never be far from the greenbacks. Look for instalments in the coming year.

Funding for these projects is coming from a freshly awarded WINTI Grant (Western Native Trout Initiative). The Greenbacks and CTU, along with CMCTU both received 3,000 dollars to complete their projects. These three organizations and many others across the state collaborating to bring greenbacks to the forefront of public attention is beginning to be recognized as a ground breaking effort.

Getting Dirty for Trout

If you have been wanting to volunteer with us, then here is your chance!! Below are some of the Volunteer Opportunities that we have coming up. If you are interested in any of these projects then please email Stephanie Scott directly at sscott@tu.org to sign up for one of the opportunities.  

July Opportunities:

• July 16th - Josephine Falls Trail Decommission (partner with Cheyenne Mountain Chapter TU) - These work days will be from about 8:30-3:00.  We will be working alongside of the Youth Core and other groups.  We will meet in Colorado Springs and do a short car pool to the work area. From there we will hike in less than a mile to the work site.  We will be using hand tools to loosen soil and remove evidence of the trail.  We will also be moving brush and may do some plantings to cover the trail.  These work days will be directed by the Rocky Mountain Field Institute (RMFI).
• July 18th-19th - Thunder/Box Lakes Gill Net Surveying (partner with Chris Kennedy in Rocky Mountain National Park) - Chris needs 2-3 people to help conduct gill net surveys on both of these lakes. Right now this is a full backpack trip and we will be camping at Thunder Lake (6.8 miles, 200 feet), but there is a cabin up there which Chris will try to get the use of.  Chris has requested the use of the Thunder Lake cabin .
• July 22nd/July 23rd - Fence Repair (partner with Cheyenne Mountain Chapter TU)- Fence repair along the South Platte river in the South Park area (Hartsel).  These work days will be from about 9:00 to 3:00.  We will be working with CPW and other TU chapters.  There are several State Wildlife Areas that are leased from private land owners.  These land owners tend to graze cattle on their land.  As part of the lease agreement CPW has constructed fences to keep livestock out of the riparian areas.  CPW is charged with maintenance of these fences but does not have the manpower/budget to keep up with the work.
• July 23rd - S. Platte Musk Thistle Remediation (partner with Cutthorat Chapter TU) - Work days will be from 9:30 to 3:00, and meeting at 9AM near Deckers.  This project is located right along the road and includes clipping and bagging musk thistle and severing its base at ground level. This will include no more than a half-mile hike at a your own pace, or you can travel by car. CUSP crew will remove the bagged thistle. Musk thistle is a noxious weed that outcompetes native plant species, becoming a monoculture when left untreated. This population is currently a threat to aquatic habitat, riparian grasses and insect populations.  Musk thistle is a spikey plant so bring your favorite leather gloves, long sleeved shirts, and long pants. Deckers.

August Opportunities:

• August 13th - Colorado Trout Unlimited Outdoor Mentors Program - Chase Moore needs 1-2 volunteers to help with the CTU station.  They will be teaching fly casting, tying and fish art.  The event is from 9:00-2:00 at Barr Lake.
• August 20th - Horse Creek (partner with Cheyenne Mountain Chapter TU) - Work days will be from 9:30-3:00 and meeting at 9AM near Deckers.  This work will include harvesting and transplanting willows, installing jute matting, raking and seeding native vegetation or planting trees along a two-mile stretch of Horse Creek, above it’s confluence with the South Platte. In-stream restoration work will occur at this location over the next two years to reduce sediment, replace damaged culverts and install bridges. The work will improve fish passage and habitat, as well as the safety of residents and visitors. This area of the Hayman burn scar continues to produce an excess of 65 tons of sediment annually into the South Platte River and continues to flood Highway 67. It is anticipated that this restoration will remove 50 to 55 tons annually, and is modeled after similar work – much of which included CCTU volunteers – that has successfully occurred in the higher Trail Creek drainage. As work progresses and the weather cools, project details will change, for example: willows can be transplanted at warmer temperatures than pine trees.

• August 30th-September 2^nd - We will be in need of volunteers to help us fin clip rainbow X cutthroat hybrid trout at Mount Shavano Hatchery for our ongoing study comparing diploid versus triploid trout at Elevenmile Reservoir.  This year we will be clipping fish August 30th – September 2nd and could use your help.  Last year we clipped 68,000 fish in three days with the help of 70 people over the three day period. All of the work will take place outside at the Mount Shavano Hatchery in Salida.  Parking will be available at the visitor parking area on the hill before you enter into the hatchery.  We will plan on starting each day at 8 A.M. and should finish around 4:30 P.M.  Volunteers should bring the following: Lunch, Water, Sunscreen, Chairs, Sunshades if available

September Opportunities:

• September 10th - CarpSlam - Denver TU is looking for volunteers to help with Pro/Am Carp Slam X on Sept 10,2016.  The fishing venue will be 15 beats on the Denver South Platte River from Oxford downstream to 120th Ave.  We are seeking people to work as Controllers and Rovers for the teams on the river. This is an opportunity to learn about fly fishing for carp and other species on the Platte for the smartest, slickest, smoothest anglers in the world.  You should be in good physical condition and willing to work the full day from 7 AM to 5 PM.  Lunch will be provided at Fuel Café.  To volunteer please contact Mike Hobbs – CarpSlam Ops Manager – email: mhobbsco@gmail.com  Volunteers will also receive swag and a ticket to the after party on the 14th floor of DaVita with one of the most spectacular views  in Denver.  Food, beer and wine will be served. Music provided by MTHDS.  Tickets for the event are $35 presale and $45 at the door. For more info visit www.carpslam.org
• September 16th-18th - Girls Inc Fly Fishing Camp - This is a weekend commitment - still working on the details of the event and will post those once they are available.
• September 24th - This is the S. Platte River clean up - also still working on the details and will post once available.

Please RSVP for these events to Stephanie Scott sscott@tu.org

CTU Praises Final Roan EIS

On June 28, the Bureau of Land Management released its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Roan Plateau, a backcountry area prized as a fish and wildlife oasis and a cornerstone of the area’s recreation-based economy. While TU said it was still reviewing the document, the BLM plan appears to cancel the majority of oil and gas leases on top of the Roan Plateau, including all of those in the Trapper and Northwater Creek watersheds, areas that encompass the best cutthroat trout habitat on the Roan. The East Fork of Parachute Creek headwaters, recently reclaimed and restored for native cutthroat trout, would also remain undeveloped with leases canceled. The BLM’s proposed decision reflects the 2014 settlement reached between Bill Barrett Corporation—the lease holder—and conservation groups.

“This is another big step forward in years-long efforts to protect one of Colorado’s natural treasures,” said David Nickum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited. “It shows that, working together, we can craft a management solution that provides lasting protections for the Roan’s most valuable fish and wildlife habitat, while allowing careful, responsible development of its energy reserves.”

The Roan is a Colorado last best place: its small streams hold rare populations of genetically pure Colorado River cutthroat trout—a species found in less than 10 percent of its historic range. Public lands on the plateau’s top and at its base provide key summer and winter range and migration corridors for large herds of mule deer and elk.

The surrounding landscape is also rich in energy resources and dotted with oil and gas development sites.

“Over the years, our members have invested thousands of dollars and many hundreds of volunteer hours into habitat and fisheries projects on the Roan,” said Ben Bloodworth, president of TU’s Grand Valley Anglers chapter. “It’s a very special place to Colorado sportsmen and women, and this BLM plan will help protect it for future generations to enjoy.”

The BLM release of the FEIS will be followed by a few more steps to secure final protections for the Roan. A 30-day public comment period for the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and proposed plan begins July 1. After the comment period, the BLM is expected to issue its final Record of Decision.

TU has a long history of involvement with the Roan, beyond being party to the lawsuit and subsequent settlement that set the stage for the BLM's new EIS and plan.  TU projects on the Roan have included extensive fencing and riparian plantings along Trapper Creek, Northwater Creek, and parts of the East Fork Parachute Creek watershed; installation of a fish barrier on the East Fork which isolated the upper portion of the stream from downstream brook trout and allowed Colorado Parks and Wildlife to re-establish native cutthroat trout there; and physical habitat improvements on Trapper Creek to provide improved low-water holding habitat. Grand Valley Anglers volunteers have been involved with project work in the area for more than 20 years.

TU Building Partnerships with the Cattle Industry

Photo Credit: Joshua Polsonjpolson@greeleytribune.com  The Greeley Tribune

Beef industry concerns about water Issues highlight Colorado Cattlemen's Association conference

From: The Fence Post, By; Nikki Work

Terry Fankhauser, executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, stood in front of a small room of ranchers, a serious frown dipping under the corners of his gray handlebar moustache. The message he had for the breakout group at the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association annual convention was grim.

Without water, it’s not just farming that fails.

During the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association annual convention last week in Colorado Springs, ranchers, business owners and ag officials discussed the ways the state’s cattlemen can make a difference in water conservation and why the beef industry needs to have a role in the conversation. Many ranchers grow feed crops for their animals, like hay or grains, rather than purchasing them. Nearly all have to worry about water when it comes to the quality of their pasture and rangeland. Even for those that rely on purchased feed or who graze on federal lands, Fankhauser pointed out that the ag industry is all interconnected.

Fankhauser asked the group: If corn dries up, what will cattle eat? If farmers start to go out of business in an area, feedlots move out, then packing plants move out, Fankhauser said. When ranchers can’t keep the water on their land to sustain their pastures, they have to sell off their cattle herd, as they did in the 2012 drought.

Bill McKee, a rancher who lives in Carbondale but runs cattle in both Carbondale and Platteville, said if the beef industry does nothing else, it needs to make an effort to stop buy-and-dry, a practice in which agricultural land is bought up for its water rights and taken out of production.

“Ag has to be on equal footing with municipal and industrial and environmental concerns. We have to be at the head of the table, not at the end of the table.”

According to state projections outlined in the Colorado Water Plan, which was introduced by Gov. John Hickenlooper in November 2015, by 2050, the state will be about 560,000 acre-feet short of the water necessary to sustain its expected population. That’s a shortage that’s equivalent to three and a half Horsetooth Reservoirs at maximum capacity.

The water plan calls for ag water leasing to help make up a portion of that shortfall.

Through water leasing, farmers would maintain ownership of their water, but only use a portion of it and be paid for the rest, which would be used by someone else, like a municipality.

“There is no question that more buy and dry is going to happen, but the idea of leasing is to minimize that,” Fankhauser said.

There are a few different ways this could look, but according to a survey done by the Ag Water NetWORK, an organization formed by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and the Partners for Western Conservation, the most popular of them is for a certain portion of water to be leased, then the producer would receive reduced delivery of water over the rest of the season. About two-thirds of the respondents to the survey expressed some sort of interest in leasing their water.

Fankhauser said the point of water leasing is to give farmers an alternative option to selling their water rights while still addressing the water issues in the state.

T. Wright Dickinson, former president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association who serves on the state’s Inter-basin Compact Committee, said ag water leasing is only part of the solution. Continued development of the reservoir storage system is necessary, too, but ranchers need to realize their role and the opportunities they have to manage their water in a way that protects ag’s viability.

“If we do it right, conservation goes a long way into solving some of this gap,” said Dickinson, a Moffat County rancher. “If we do it wrong, the state won’t look the same.”

At the convention, Carbondale and Platteville rancher McKee talked with representatives from conservation group Trout Unlimited, which works with farmers and ranchers on water management to benefit fish populations. He was looking into options to better handle water on his property, something he said he needs to do soon, because changes are coming to Colorado, and they’re coming faster than anyone is prepared for.

“It’s time to have an intelligent discussion,” he said. “Everybody should be looking at these issues.”

Stephanie Scott, outreach coordinator with Trout Unlimited, said she sees the conversation around water and other natural resource issues changing in the ag community every time she attends a convention like the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association’s. At first, ranchers hesitate when they see the Trout Unlimited booth. It’s nestled next to the trade show mainstays, like merchandise, livestock products and ag tech. Scott said she can see the questions in their eyes — the ones they’re afraid to ask a conservation organization.

Trout Unlimited want to help them better manage their water because it helps both the farmer and the organization accomplish their goals, Scott said. Once farmers and ranchers realize that, the conversation about conservation really gets going.

And as population grows and the pressure on water mounts, more people in the ag community — the whole ag community, not just traditional crop growers — are willing to try new things, Scott said.

Since the governor’s water plan is new and fresh on the minds of legislators, McKee said now is the time for ag to have a bigger part in water conversations.

“Ag has to be on equal footing with municipal and industrial and environmental concerns,” he said. “We have to be at the head of the table, not at the end of the table.” ❖