Rio Grande - Rio Grande Initiative_Application_2008

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The requested WSRA monies will be a match to the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (GOCO) Legacy Grant of $7.385 million for the Rio Grande Initiative, which was awarded to RiGHT in December 2007. As the largest award in the state in this most recent grant cycle, the GOCO Legacy award includes a $2.385 million commitment from the Colorado Division of Wildlife's GOCO funds, directly involving the CDOW in this effort. GOCO's award will be matched by $2.9 million of cash match (including the WSRA funds) and $3.748 million of donated value from participating landowners. The funds will be used to purchase the development rights from willing landowners along the Rio Grande. It is the overall goal of the Rio Grande Initiative to use these incentive-based methods to protect one-half of the intact private land, approximately 25,000 acres, with voluntary conservation easements. The Rio Grande Initiative has been in development for a number of years as various planning efforts have proven the Rio Grande and its water resources to be the top conservation priority for the area. The effort has involved the work of many RGRT members in the work of RiGHT and other key partners, including the San Luis Valley Wetlands Focus Area Committee and the national organizations of Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy. The Rio Grande Initiative will make an important contribution toward achieving water sustainability in the Rio Grande Basin. As discussed in this application, conserving key land parcels and their senior surface water rights along the river will assist in sustaining historic water use patterns and river flows. These, in turn, support the consumptive uses of traditional agriculture, help maintain a functioning flood plain and its public safety benefits, assists the Colorado Division Engineer in meeting Colorado's Rio Grande Compact obligations, and assists in the ongoing efforts to restore the Basin's aquifers. In addition, these conservation efforts will sustain important non-consumptive uses of water as addressed in the "Water Supply and Needs Report for the Rio Grande Basin" (SWSI) dated June 2006 and outlined in detail in this application. The Rio Grande Initiative will assist in achieving environmental goals through continuing historical water management and utilizing the concepts of "conserve, protect and restore", while preventing a future widening of the water supply gap for both non-consumptive and consumptive water needs on the river and basin-wide. By protecting the land and water along the Rio Grande, many opportunities for restoration, ecological enhancement, and management improvements are also possible far into the future. If these same lands were to be sub-divided and developed for residential purposes, or their water rights changed to other uses, many comll.:!unity benefits and future opportunities will be lost. Colorado already has too many examples of poorly planned river corridor development and communities are suffering the permanent effects of dewatered riparian areas. The success of the Rio Grande Initiative will help direct growth and development into patterns that sustain the role of the Rio Grande, its water and its important economic and ecological functions for the San Luis Valley communities and citizens of the State. Once again, I wish to emphasize that there is a deep-rooted support for the Rio Grande Initiative, as well as a sense of urgency, from all sectors in the RGRT. The Rio Grande Page 2 of 3