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03!3112008 13:36 9702475104 DMG DURANGO OFFICE PAGE 05/07 <br />The bottom lane is that GG-l~7itch Company, with one oftlas oldest and most secure water rights <br />in the State ofColorado, co~asistently delivers water from the Sari Migucl River that adequately <br />meets share-holders irrigation demands. <br />Another very ir~~~rtant point needs tca be made at this time. The New Dor-izan Mine is required <br />to meet an establ%~,hed crop production goal in order to be released from its reclamation bond. <br />That yield goal, 1.84 tons/acr~ first cutting of alfalfa on Barx lime Sandy Loam Soil, is ~ <br />average based on 'longterm yields of local farmers and docurnerned by the United States <br />Department of Agricuhure. $y its very nature, the average of historic yields accounts fob "good <br />water years" and "bad water years." Moreover, the part of the growing season that produces <br />.first Cutting, Ntay ,and June, is normally the tune of year when the GC-bitch Company has had <br />little pt~ablern delivering the amount of irrigation water required fear our three sideroll sprinkler <br />system to irrigate 70 acres of alfalfa sufficiently..A.ugwt can be a problem month regarding <br />supplies of irrigatiion water due to the fact that flows in the Sant Miguel River traturally decline, <br />but that has been the case for eons, and the fang-term average of yields ~rellects this reoccurrx;ag <br />cvent_ <br />Criven the above d,iscussion,lVlr. Gubka's analysis ofthe CC-Ditch flow data is a# best the result <br />of lack of ls~owlecige regaGrdi~rtg the irrigation heeds of alfalfa, and at worst a complete <br />misrepresentation ofthe data. Irrigating and gnawing an agricultural crop is as much an "art" as <br />it is a science, and. one has to adapt their management practices to the growing conditions that are <br />preseirted_ 'I'he United States Department of Agriculture uses historical climate data as a starting <br />point for scheduln~ irrigation events, but it does not replace the need to monitor soil moisture i~n <br />the top 18 inches ot` th.e soil profile to get a "feel" for when it is tszn~e to irrigate the crop and how <br />much water to apply. <br />T will once again ~;o on record as saying that 54 shares of CC-flitch Company water is sufficient <br />to adequately irrigate 7b acres ol`alfalfa growing iu $arx Fine Sandy )`.Darn Soils in Nacla, <br />Colorado, using the three sid~oll, spFrinkler system as l; have designed <br />Sincerely, <br />Jim Boyd, NItCS Resource Conservationist <br />cc_ Western Fuels -- Colorado <br />Morgan Taxxu7y <br />