C150063 Feasibility Study

• Contract/PO #: C150063
• Contractor Name: Jackson Lake Reservoir & Irrigation Company
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 1
• County: Morgan
• Bill Number: SB 94-29
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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anticipated due to the 60 + miles of commuting distance to the major jobs. Most of the

recent farmland conversion has been centered near Fort Morgan.

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Additional loss of agricultural land statewide has been attributable to water right
transfers. Transfer of water rights off the service area's irrigated lands is not likely due
to the difficulty of reliably moving large quantities of water upstream to the Front Range
metropolitan areas, the potential purchasers of such water.

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Crops generally cultivated in the area are corn, beans, hay, sugar beets, wheat,
sunflowers, and potatoes. Minor amounts of other crops are also raised. The average
yield of these crops on irrigated land in Morgan County for 1998 and 1999, as taken
from the report Colorado Agriculture Statistics'" published by the Colorado Department
of Agriculture, is shown in Table 3. Table 3 also shows the breakdown of crops, the
number of acres of each type, the yields, and dollars of production for 1998 and 1999.
The total value of crop production on 17,000 acres was about $14.6 million in 1998
and $15.7 million in 1999.

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Land Ownership

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The ownership of land in the area served by the Jackson Cake Reservoir and
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Irrigation Company is primarily private farm or ranch land. An exact breakdown of land
ownership is not known, but is expected to consist of less than one percent public land
owned by Local, State, and Federal governments, with the remainder private land.

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