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<br />.'~--... <br /> <br />INTRADEPARTMENTAL <br />l"iEMO <br /> <br />In <br />...-l <br />,~. <br />l :) <br /> <br />(:-..1 <br />I:;;' <br /> <br />STATE BOARD OF LAND COMMISSIONERS <br />ROOM 620, CENTENNIAL BUILDING <br />1313 SHERMAN STREET <br />DENVER, COLORADO 80203 <br /> <br />IMY 1 8 '1(\70 <br />;;;Jr. ,} <br /> <br />DIV. [Ie fIlNNIi'W <br /> <br />May 18, 1979 <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />Mr. Stephen Ellis <br /> <br />FROM: <br /> <br />Rowena Rogers, President <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Land Board Response to Closed Basin Environmental Statement <br /> <br />\ <br /> <br />The Closed Basin project is designed to recycle wasted drainage <br />waters in (<c'der to payoff downstreal!l'; debts on the Rio Grande River, <br />for the benefit of upstream irrigators in the San Luis Valley, and <br />i,ndirectly for the benefit of the economy of the Valley as a whole. <br />Th're are 60,000 plus acres of State Trust lands lying within the <br />project boundaries, and the project is predicated upon the avai1- <br />-ability of approximately 3,500 acres of trust lands at no cost to <br />the Federal Government. Most of the wells would be sited on trust <br />lands. While this project has been pending, no well permits in the <br />C!,osed Basin have been granted by the State Engineer, which has <br />p' '10nted any conversion to agr Lculture, a vastly more beneficial <br />u,;; of trust lands than grazing. <br /> <br />Previous Land Boards have opposed the Closed Basin project on the <br />basis that it was detrimental rather than benefic'ia1 to the various <br />trusts. The present Land Board is favorably disposed toward the <br />project because not only is the do,vnstream water debt a drag on the <br />economy of an area in which the Land Board has enormous holdings, <br />but also because an end result of the project will be additional <br />irrigation water available with the Valley. Some of that water could <br />be: used on trust lands. <br /> <br />The trust lands necessary to the project cannot be taken with- <br />out compensation. At the present time a contract between the Water <br />Conservation Board and the Land Board is being drafted by the former. <br />The Water Conservation Board will compensate the Land Board for <br />acreage on an as-needed basis. The consideration will be based on <br />the recent Right-of-Way on the San Luis-Head Lakes. <br /> <br />The Water Con,;ervation Board also has undertaken the responsi- <br />h""ity of securing an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to <br />give the Land Board a first option on 5,000 acre-feet of irrigation <br />water as it becomes available. <br />