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<br />Army officials have said they want to increas~ the size of the training area by 418,000 acres - a decision <br />that has been strongly opposed by many ranch families around the training area, which is located . <br />southwest of La Junta along the Purgatoire River. <br /> <br />Last year, Allard attached an amendment to the Pentagon's 2007 budget requiring the Army to give a <br />lengthy report on which alternatives it has considered to expanding PCMS and the impacts that might <br />occur. That report, released in December, left most of those questions unanswered. Army officials said <br />any answers would be hypothetical until Defense Secretary Robert Gates approves an expansion plan. <br /> <br />Arkansas Roundtable Consider Funding Requests: Funding for five water activities will be considered <br />by the Arkansas Basin Roundtable, as the group's role shifts from a cooperative committee to a catalyst <br />for change. <br /> <br />On Jan 10, the roundtable will meet at Otero Junior College in La Junta to consider five funding requests <br />totaling nearly $470,000: <br /> <br />. The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District is asking for $200,000 for funds to match <br />a federal grant to continue work on the Arkansas Valley Conduit. <br />. The Southeastern district is requesting $50,000 toward developing a strategic plan to deal with <br />tamarisk, Russian olive and Siberian elm invasions in the Arkansas River basin. <br />. The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District is asking for almost $100,000 to help <br />fund a study aimed at forming a water leasing management authority. <br />. The Lower Ark district, in cooperation with the Arkansas Valley Research Center at Rocky Ford, <br />wants $50,000 in funding for a lysimeter station. <br />. The El Paso County Water Authority wants $70,000 toward an aquifer recharge and storage <br />evaluation of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />[fhe water needs assessment committee is recommending roundtable funding of the EI Paso County <br />request from its designated fund, while forwarding the other requests to a competitive state process. <br />I <br />jIbe water needs assessment committee has met twice monthly since October and was charged by the <br />roundtable in November to sort out requests. The intent of the committee was to dissolve itself after <br />tompleting the matrix, but the roundtable elected to continue the panel to help expedite funding decisions. <br />rhe conduit advisory committee plans to meet that morning in La Junta to discuss progress toward <br />matching a $675,000 federal grant, a $60.6 million loan from the Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />knd the next steps toward making the project a reality. <br /> <br />tnvasive plants also have been a Southeastern district concern for several years and the district is trying to <br />bring counties together to develop a coordinated plan of attack. <br /> <br />the Lower Ark district is promoting a water leasing management program and is talking to major ditch <br />. ompanies. The idea would be to provide rotational fallowing on a valleywide scale, giving farmers the <br />pportunity to lease water without permanently drying up land or selling water rights. <br />I <br />The lysimeter is seen as a way to increase the accuracy of water usage measurements in valley crops. <br />*tate officials say the lysimeter could increase irrigation efficiency, while providing more accurate <br />reasurements in ongoing disputes with Kansas over Arkansas River water use. <br /> <br />~everal El Paso County groups are interested in the potential ofthe Upper Black Squirrel Creek to store <br />water. The aquifer is considered non-tributary to streams in the Arkansas basin, providing an important . <br />6ption for growing communities in the Colorado Springs area. <br /> <br />24 <br />