Water News: Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Volume 1 Issue 13

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XERISCAPE GARDEN I - We are happy to report that the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden has received a $750.00 grant from the Colorado Tree Coalition. With the grant money, we plan on purchasing 50 Rocky Mountain Juniper trees. We will plant the trees on the north and east boundaries of the property. The Junipers will provide an excellent wind break and visual screen for the garden. We would like to recognize and thank the Colorado Tree brochure is an explanation of what xeriscape is, the principles of xeriscape and the benefits of having a xeriscape landscape. There is also a section detailing where the garden is located and how to contact us for tours and information. We plan on widely distributing the brochure to tourist information centers, chamber of commerce offices, local water districts, and other informational locations to increase public awareness of our educational program. If you are interested in receiving a brochure or distributing them, please contact us. We have recruited six Master Gardeners to be volunteer guides for tours of the Demonstration Xeriscape Garden. Our first tour will be the Master Gardener class of 2001 on March 28th. Future tours will be for the local nursery businesses, gardening clubs, schools, and civic organizations. If you or a group are interested in a tour, please call (719) 948 -2400. In the future, we would like to take our tour "on the road" to communities in southern Colorado. We would explain ways to conserve water in the landscape and the different attributes of our water - conserving garden. We are very excited about developing this opportunity. It will provide an excellent way to educate communities about water conservation and xeriscape Coalition for their financial support. In conjunction with Arbor Day, we are planning a "Planting Day" on Saturday, April 28th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Volunteers from the El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch, CSU Master Gardeners, members of the Universalist Unitarian Church and SECWCD staff will be planting the juniper trees and adding new plants to the perennial garden beds. Please feel free to give us a hand, we are always looking for eager volunteers. The informational brochure for the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden is ready for distribution. Included in the 4 gardening without having to travel to the garden in Pueblo. Springtime has sprung and the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden is beginning to awaken from its winter rest. Soon there will be green grass, budding trees and fresh spring flowers. We will be busy planting, weeding, fertilizing and pruning to make way for the new growth. Please, feel free to visit the garden or take a tour. Written by: Jean Van Pelt, Master Gardener, SECWCD Project Water Supply The District and Enterprise currently have approximately 50,000 acre -feet of unallocated Project Water in storage at this time. While it is too early to make any forecast of this year's imports of Project Water from the West Slope, we are hopeful that new imports will add considerably to the Project Water supply available this year. Applications for allocations of Project Water will be mailed to water users in late March of 2001. The District's Board of Directors hopes to take action on the applications at the regular meeting of the Board in May 2001. At it's regular March meeting, the Southeastern Colorado Water Activity Enterprise approved the recommendations of it's Allocation Committee for the sale of 23,259 acre -feet of Project Water Return Flows. Applications to purchase Project Water Return Flows were mailed to water users in February of 2001. Written by: Tom Simpson, Water Resources Manager, SECWCD