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The Pueblo Chieftain Online <br />By CHIEFTAIN PHOTO /FILE <br />An Otero County irrigation <br />ditch: Some residents <br />question county money <br />being used to keep water <br />on farmland. <br />Is Otero gambling with Lottery money? <br />Easements spark drama in farming community <br />By KARL LICIS <br />THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN <br />Page 1 of 5 <br />While a Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund conservation- easement pilot <br />project to keep water in the Arkansas Valley remains up in the air, the Otero <br />County Commissioners have committed up to $1.3 million to ensure a smoother <br />landing. <br />And, though not everyone in the county agrees - some say the taxpayer money <br />could more appropriately be spent on other priorities - many interested eyes <br />are watching as the drama unfolds. <br />"This is meaningful in other parts of the state," said John Swartout, executive <br />director of GOCO. "If we can do it here, we can do it in other parts of the state <br />(that have) similar problems." <br />At the center of the issue is a conservation - easement agreement between <br />GOCO and the county, reached in 2002, the first time GOCO has authorized the <br />payment of state lottery money to landowners for easements that tie water use <br />to the land in perpetuity. Through the easement, a farmer or rancher can <br />http : / /www.chieftain.com /print.php ?article= /metro /1090735200/2 7/28/2004 <br />