C150402 CT2015-090 Feasibility Study

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4) to significantly improve water management efficiencies for the Conejos Main Stem,the North Branch of the Conejos, and the San Antonio River as they converge at The Confluence. History and General Nature of the Service Area The Conejos Area of the San Luis Valley was Spanish Territory for many years. In 1848, the land which included modern Conejos, Costilla, and Alamosa Counties was ceded to the United States by Mexico. By 1854 this area had become the most remote northern outpost of colonial Mexico,with the first Spanish American settlement near the present town of Conejos. In 1878, a group of Mormons came to Los Cerritos, near the project area, where they farmed, established a school, and built a church. In 1879,the east half of Manassa was surveyed and settled by another group of newly-arrived Mormons. In those times conditions were predominantly wet. At one point the town of Ephraim had to be moved due flooding and the high water table. Irrigation structures back then were designed for much higher flows and wetter conditions, and they function poorly, if at all, in today's conditions of extended drought. Ranching and irrigated farming are the principal income-producing activities in the project area, with most ranchers growing winter feed for livestock and raising cattle. The main crops are meadow hay and alfalfa, with a few raising barley and oats, and with hardly anyone these days raising potatoes or lettuce, as was the case 40 or 50 years ago. Predominant soils in the LaJara-Mogote-LosSauces areas of Conejos County are nearly level, deep, and poorly drained. Soils on flood plains and low terraces are also somewhat poorly drained. The project area is on the flood plain of the LaSauses unit (a common historical misspelling), with soils typically poorly drained and salt- and alkali-affected. They support meadow grasses and shrubs, with the surface layer of sandy clay loam and clay loam and the subsoil of heavy clay loam. The substratum is stratified heavy clay loam and loam over sand and gravel. This unit is mainly irrigated meadow and cropland. LAND OWNERSHIP The land in the project service area consists mostly of farms and ranches, with settled family farm home sites dating back several generations. All of the agricultural land serviced by the Company is privately owned. Patterns of land ownership have changed considerably since the 1880s, when many small shareholders had 5 or 8 acres and a pattern of small subsistence farms prevailed. Today many farmers have 100 acres or more, mostly devoted to one or two crops. 9 Prepared by the Conejos Water Conservancy District, P.O. Box 550, Manassa,CO 81141 Per contract: Nicole V.Langley,Transforma Research&Design(www.transformagrants.com)