As I drove to the Yampa Valley in August to attend a water conference in Steamboat Springs, the sun blazed down hot, the late wildflowers still bloomed in the high country and the aspens had barely a yellow tint to them.
The Blue and the Yampa rivers ran with the kind of wild fervor they would run with in early summer, as farmers up and down the valleys baled bountiful cuttings of hay.
As I scanned the hillsides along Highway 9, I got to thinking about water, as I often do.
This past winter, Colorado hit record snowpack. As opposed to 2018, this year we were blessed with a big runoff, which led to a rafting season that is still going strong – skiing on the 4th of July, and farmers being able to irrigate late into the season.
As folks get out to see the colors change, it is important to remember that our mountainsides, river valleys and plains don’t look the way they do by happenstance. The beauty of our landscape is shaped by the active stewardship of the people who work the land.
Ranchers running cattle in the high country help manage our watersheds; farmers irrigating hay in the river valleys create some of the state’s best wildlife habitat; and corn and wheat growers on the Eastern Plains are the foundation of those rural economies and main streets.
At some point along the way, water in our streams, rivers, and aquifers, the rain that falls from the sky and the water coming out of our taps is stewarded by farmers and ranchers. But Colorado’s water, and those family farmers and ranchers who help manage it, are in jeopardy.
A practice known as “buy-and-dry” has been underway in the state for decades. Buy-and-dry is the permanent removal of water from the land, such as when a municipality purchases agricultural water rights and changes the use of those rights from irrigating crops to feeding municipal taps.
Colorado – in particular the Front Range – has grown thanks to buy-and-dry, and our water law allows for it; but as this practice helps cities develop, it simultaneously bleeds agricultural communities dry.
Rural Colorado is feeling the pressure of water scarcity from all sides. Not only are our own cities growing at unprecedented rates, so too are dozens more Western cities downstream that also rely on water originating in Colorado. Farmers and ranchers operating in the Republican River Basin to the San Luis Valley, the Colorado headwaters to the Arkansas, are feeling the pinch. Producers in my home basin down in Southwest Colorado face similar pressures, as do so many rural communities across the state.
Fortunately in 2015, the state made a commitment in the Colorado Water Plan to prioritize alternatives to buy-and-dry.
Gov. Jared Polis is continuing that commitment. Agricultural producers are creatively doing their part, in ways like implementing efficient irrigation practices, building soil health and working with urban and conservation partners on creative solutions for the future.
Where we need new allies is with you, dear eater and lover of Colorado’s landscape. You are a crucial partner and play an important role, starting with conserving water and supporting your local farmers and ranchers.
If you need an economic argument for keeping water on the land, it’s an easy one to make: Agriculture is the No. 2 economic driver in the state, second only to tourism. The majority of tourists come here for Colorado’s natural beauty. Agriculture is responsible for much of that natural beauty.
Our state’s farmers and ranchers manage 33 million acres of land in Colorado, including on state and federal lands. Without agriculture and the wise water stewardship that comes with it, our state would be unrecognizable.
But the economic argument is only one slice of the pie. Agriculture provides not only food security, it also supports wildlife habitat, open space, local communities and the natural beauty so many of us love about Colorado.
So the next time you hear someone telling rural folk they’d be better off with more dollars and less water, think twice.
Colorado agriculture is the bedrock of this state, and water weaves the tapestry that binds us all together.
Kate Greenberg is the Colorado commissioner of agriculture.
