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Interview With Ernie Schutz PaBosa (Archuleta County rep/SWCD)" .~ . ~ W7P: Here 011 t/;e milch, how do YOlt use the wate,.? To misf h,~y or ju.st pas!Ure~ Editors Note: Ernie Schutz StrutS as t1 director 011 the SoutlJw6terrl Water Comervatioll DiJtria as the repre~-olttTti{/e from ,,4rc'huletI1 COllI/f)', Colorado. His family /"" 1i.lnch~d in the Chroma. co" area for milJ~'y )'cars. Enll('SrJ,lIIZ Actually rhis has gor to rhe poinr thar [he ranch is mosdy pasrurebnd. !v1osr of OUT irrigated land is just pasture. WIP: Since your ranch has irrigation, do 'yOll have any water problems' We have a dry well righr our here in our fronr yard. We drilled one there and didn't get Water. Then we had one out here in the back of our place. It was good for a while, and rhen ir wenr downhill umil we couldn't use it anymore. WlP: Some people htlVe been aitiml a/the ranching business and those who raise {attic 011 the lmld. WIJtlt is your response to those i.,sues: I don't think anybody can live on the land and nor be an environmencalisr. fu a rancher, I've tried to improve a]] the years we've been in the ranching business. Each season we made improvemencs at the ranch. I don't overgraze it and try my best to make it a better place. I want it to be a whole lot better for whoever inherits it tht'n it is now. And I think that is environmental. WIP: Xm'vl" lived in Colorado for (l long time. }l.wi;e seen many changes. \Vhat is important for water users in Colorado to understand about water in the CoLorado Riller Basin? An important point that we need to worry about here is trying to keep Colorado water for Colorado. I think ir is a very real concern that if water ever goes to California or Arizona or down the river....well, I don't think we'll ever ger it back. WlP: Hou/ /-"'fin we impro/Je the Wfl.YS we teLL thi' water story to the publi<,' What I would do to berrer rell the water story is to back ir up, nor jUst have somebody talking. Perhap' a slide show or a video that could show how much water was in certain rivers at a certain time. Examp]es of how much water we use and why we need to be concerned about water issues. Seems like pictures do a lot more that JUSt words. I rhink the rhing rhar we wanr done is to have people to be more a\\'are of what water actually is. We need to tell people what are the Water issues and how to conserve \Ya[er for the furure. MoSt people should be intereSted in saving and conserving warer if rhey rhought their offspring, kids or grand kids or grear grandkids were going to need it. {j ~ "WETPACK" Continued ji-Onl page 1 In addition, WETPACK is dedicated ro preserving and strengthening the area's agriculruraJ resources. Water disrricr GeneraJ .~1anageI John Poner repons thar farmers are lined up to get more water. Several years ago, when addirional DWCD projecr water became available, there was more demand rhan supply for farmers. 2. Biologisrs recommend rhat the "!ish pool" stored in McPhee Reservoir for downstream fishery flow needs ar leaSt 36,500 acte-feer a year, bur the toral committed to rhar flow is Still 3,300 acre-feer shorr of rhar goal. The extra 3,300 acre-feet is presenrly being supplied by a five-year lease from the Ure Mountain Ute Tribe. WETPACK proposes to develop that 3,300 acre-feet and possibly more to meet other water requests by constructing a storage reservoir on Plateau or Beaver Creek to catch water in years when snowmelt creates spjIls, resroring Totten Reservoir to the irrigation system, perhaps building another dam near the Dove Creek Canal, and investing in cloud seeding. Others seeking more water are upstream users sllch as Rico and downstream users sllch as San Juan County, Utah, municipalities, as well as irrigators in the DWCD water project area. In some years, Porter noted, over 500/0 of the river's tlow spills with a high snowmelt runoff~ while there is no spill in other years. In fact, rhe lake doesn'r fill complerely in some years. Financing for WET PACK will come from: (a) up-fronr contributions to be made by the water district; (b) the owners of rhe new irrigated land; (c) the sale by rhe water district of rhe 3,300 acre-feer for downstream (rhe Dolores River Instream- flow Parrnership, or "DRIP", is seeking a grant from GO Colorado and the Bureau of Land Managemenr [unds from LWCF); (d) a construcrion loan will be soughr by rhe district from the Colorado Water Conservation Board; (e) contributions will come from presenr irrigared lands; and (f) an annuiry from invested cash. John Porrer, General Manager of rhe Dolores Warer Conservancy Districr said rhar WET PACK will wotk, because ir [allows the tradition of area planning and cooperation that made creation of rhe Dolores Projecr possible; because there is a need for more warer and McPhee Reservoir is completely allocared; and because ir is offered as one all-encompassing project, a "package." For WlP: In "your mind, u,hat are the most important water issues more information call John Porrer, General Manager, Dolores that we lle;d to commullimtl! to the uext generatiow? Water Conservancy District, (970) 565-7562.1\ 2 tj vC1Jt ;) I;;).