Rio Grande - Rio Grande Basin CREP_Water Activity Summary

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Similarly, the Southwest Willow Flycatcher is a federally listed endangered species that thrives in the riparian willow habitat along the Rio Grande. Currently, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District is developing a Regional Habitat Conservation Plan to protect habitat in Colorado for this endangered species and to protect routine agricultural activities. The water levels of the aquifer system within the Closed Basin area of the central and northern San Luis Valley are currently declining which is negatively impacting surface flows, and increasing operating and pumping costs for agricultural producers. Several local conservation districts, water conservation districts, agricultural producers have set ambitious goals to reduce consumptive use throughout Colorado's Rio Grande Watershed by 200,000 acre-feet of water per year to address water shortages in both the confined and unconfined aquifers within the Valley. Engineering worl( completed by Allen Davey of Davis Engineering Service, Inc., in Alamosa, Colorado suggests that only a dramatic decrease in consumptive use will allow the aquifer system to restore itself and become sustainable. The unsustainable use of water in the San Luis Valley, affecting the aquifer, the local economy, wetlands, and hydrological conditions calls for immediate and targeted actions to reverse the trend. The Board of Directors of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District supported the formation of Special Improvement District No.1 of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District ("Subdistrict No.1") and the district court in Alamosa approved its creation in July of2006. Subdistrict No.1 consists of approximately 198,000 irrigated acres located in the San Luis Valley generally north of the Rio Grande, west of a line extending north of the City of Alamosa and extending into the southerly six to ten miles of Saguache County. County records submitted to the Court with the Petition to form Subdistrict No.1 indicate that Subdistrict No. 1 contains 1 71 ,291 acres of sprinl(ler irrigated lands, 21,110 acres of surface water irrigated lands, 6,046 acres of meadow land that could be irrigated using either ground or surface water sources. Data collected from the 1998 Rio Grande Decision Support System (RGDSS) for Subdistrict No.1 show alfalfa on approximately 45,700 acres, grass pasture on approximately 4,000 acres, potatoes on approximately 64,000 acres, small grains on approximately 55,000 acres and vegetables on approximately 5,000 acres. Subdistrict No.1 is governed by an eleven member Board of Managers who are currently worl(ing to develop a plan of water management that will remove approximately 40,000 acres from production in Subdistrict No.1. The Board of Managers firmly believes that the only way to encourage farmers to tal(e land out of production is to create financial incentives. The Board of Managers determined that seel(ing Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) funding in conjunction with financial incentives raised through user and service fees within the Subdistrict would be crucial to the subdistrict's success. The CREP is a Federal-State-Local partnership administered by the United States Department of Agriculture - Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA) through the authority of the 2002 Farm Bill (Conservation Title). The CREP provides a tool that will assist producers within the sub-district to voluntarily reduce their water consumption, move toward a balance between water supply and demand, and retain a viable agricultural economy, which is so vital to the region. No other program exists that can provide the level of funding and collaborative federal-state-Iocal partnership necessary to address the groundwater management issue so critical to the basin and the state of Colorado. This Grant Application for SB-1 79 Competitive Funds is requested to provide thirty six thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars ($36,750.00) for the development of a CREP Proposal and subsequent CREP Agreement requesting enrollment of approximately 40,000 acres of irrigated cropland in the San Luis Valley of the Rio Grande Watershed in Colorado, specifically within Subdistrict No. 1. This figure includes a $1,750 administration fee to the Applicant for management of the grant. The Rio Grande CREP Proposal will seel( USDA approval to enroll and retire irrigated acres through CREP and remove irrigation from the enrolled acres. Upon completion and USDA approval of the CREP Proposal and the CREP Agreement, and upon full implementation, this project will place 40,000 acres of previously 2