Prelude to a Park: Pueblo Chieftain

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The Pueblo Chieftain Online I Friday wysiwyg:H36 /http: / /www. ch ieftain. com /tuesday /news /d isplay. php3 ?article =2 /'N\'tI VG 1 GGIl0 Winterfest 111 111.. IIVG I"M\ VWl I ItJl�A VVGO lV LjC LI 1G JJ"I 1 %J 1VI UJI VLAI shareholders of the irrigation canal company that owns the Guidebook lakes refused to approve a deal with the state. Spring Runoff Pueblo Zoo Walcher said there is a slim chance the Amity Canal shareholders could ask that the lakes be considered again, FOCUS ON YOUTH: but that would have to happen before the lease on John Headbone Zone Martin is completed with the Army Engineers. Images Classroom Chieftain The corps still would operate the reservoir as a School District 60 flood - control project and determine how much water is School District 70 released from the dam itself. Pueblo Library District Walcher said he didn't expect those negotiations to be held up, in part because the state already leases several corps reservoirs for state parks. Just what would a state park at John Martin look like? Walcher and state parks staffers said they don't know yet. State parks officials said a visitors' center probably is needed, as are better restrooms, more campsites and perhaps showers, and a marina or boat docks. "This is the beginning of that discussion," Walcher said, stressing that he wants ideas from local residents. The state was poised to buy a Prowers County farm to supply water to the Great Plains site and could still use that water at John Martin, Walcher said. The Center Farms water, if the state buys it, also could be used in other wildlife areas in the region. There has been some grumbling because the sale would dry up about 2,000 acres of farmland. Prowers County Commissioner Leroy Mauch asked if Prowers County would get paid by the Colorado Division of Wildlife the difference in property tax collections between irrigated farmland and dried -up land. Maybe not, state officials said. But fellow Prowers Commissioner John Stulp said allowing the state to buy the water would benefit the area in other ways. "We could tie the water to the valley and the immediate area and not let it (be sold) to the Front Range," Stulp said as Walcher enthusiastically agreed. Turning John Martin into a state park may not mean the end of all free access to the lake. Walcher said the park could be configured so that a portion of the lake remains a wildlife area not covered by the parks department's admission fees. Jan Anderson of Southeast Colorado Enterprise development, which runs the region's enterprise zone, asked Walcher to prove how the area would benefit if the state takes over the reservoir's recreation operations from the corps. Walcher answered that the state parks department has more money to work with, some of which it collects from the lottery and Great Outdoors Colorado specifically for parks. 2 of 3 5/5/00 4:22 PM