Arkansas - CSU - EffectLandFallowing_Application_Nov2008

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Alternative Agricultural Water Transfer Methods -Grant Application Form January 2008 4. Provide a brief description of your organization. The applicant may be a public or private entity. Given the diverse range of potential applicants, not all of the following information may be relevant. Where applicable and relevant the description should include the following: a) Type of organization, official name, the year formed, and the statutes under which the entity was formed, a contact person and that person's position or title, address and phone number. For private entities, a copy of the Articles of Incorporation and By-laws should be appended to the application. b) For waters suppliers, information regarding the number of customers, taps, service area, and current water usage, and future growth plans, water related facilities owned or used, funding/revenue sources (existing service charges, tap fees, share assessments, etc.), the number of members or shareholders and shares of stock outstanding or a description of other means of ownership. c) For other entities, background, organizational size, staffing and budget, and funding related to water that is relevant in determining whether the applicant has the ability to accomplish the program/project for which funding is sought. d) A brief history of the Applicant(s). e) Please include any relevant Tabor issues relating to the funding request that may affect the Contracting Entity. The proposed activities will be carried out by staff from Colorado State University (CSU) Extension through the Southern Regional Extension Office and the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station through the Arkansas Valley Research Center. CSU Extension in partnership with the Research Center is working to address the growing demand for alternatives to permanent transfer of water rights from the Arkansas Valley region. Our efforts would be greatly advanced by the approval of this funding request. CSU is a Public Institution of Higher Education and an 1862 land grant university. Background and History, CSU Extension was originally authorized through the United States Congress by the Smith-Lever Act (1914) as the Cooperative Extension Service. The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the USDA administers supportive funding for Smith-Lever Act services (including Extension) underthe auspices of state and countygovernmentsand each state's designated land-grant universities. Extension is a public educational entity for providing research-based outreach to solve problems and improve the lives of US citizens, More simply, the purpose of Extension is to provide a link between the university and the citizens of the state, and our philosophy is that the entire state is our campus, and its residents are our students. Extension in Colorado is headquartered at CSU, and our system of county offices also puts Extension resources within easy reach of Colorado's 64 counties. The Otero County Extension office (Rocky Ford, CO), for instance, is the central point for outreach on irrigation and water resources in the Lower Arkansas Valley. Examples of educational courses provided by CSU Extension include 4-H Youth Development, Healthwise for Life, and Value-Added Agriculture, Colorado State University also maintains a longstanding research tradition in the Arkansas River basin at the Arkansas Valley Research Center (AVRC), operating under the framework of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. Established in 1888 as the Bent Agricultural Experiment Station, the AVRC is the oldest continuously operated agricultural experiment station in Colorado outside of Ft. Collins, The AVRC currently manages 104 acres, of which about 90 acres are tillable. Irrigation water for the research center is supplied from the Arkansas River through the Rocky Ford Ditch and distributed on the farm using furrow and drip methods. The AVRC was established to serve the research needs of the irrigated farming area of southeast Colorado known as the Arkansas Valley, extending from Pueblo County on the west to the Kansas border. It also includes irrigated areas associated with the tributaries to the Arkansas River in EI Paso (Fountain Creek), Huerfano and Las