The story titled “McPhee puts a plug in Dolores” (Herald, May 29) treats one of the most valued resources in Montezuma and Dolores counties in a manner that is judgmental and completely lacking in context. McPhee Reservoir is the centerpiece of the Dolores Project, which expanded irrigation to 28,500 acres of land from Yellow Jacket to Dove Creek to the north and the 7,600 acre the Ute Mountain Ute Farm and Ranch around the toe of Ute Mountain.
These irrigated lands produce some of the highest-quality dairy hay in the West, along with a variety of other crops, including 640 acres of native seed that is being used to restore BLM lands across the west. The project also provides water to a growing number of smaller vegetable producers. Project farmers are experimenting with a range of other crops to diversify markets and manage under drought conditions.
The Ute Mountain Ute tribal farm is a model of efficiency and productivity fulfilling the intent of the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement for the tribe to have a strong agricultural base, as well as clean water for household use and commercial development. The tribal farm is diversifying beyond crop production by developing a corn milling operation and a line of products, such as blue, white and yellow corn, meal chips and cooking products. Three thousand acres of the tribal farm is now devoted to producing corn for these value-added product lines marketed under the tribe’s “Bow and Arrow” brand.
From an economic standpoint, lands irrigated by the Dolores project generate tens of millions of dollars a year in local economic activity. From a cultural standpoint, the project supports more than 190 commercial family farms. The high value placed on agriculture is a core value in Montezuma and Dolores counties that goes beyond economics to the wildlife habitat and open space that irrigated farms provide and everyone enjoys.
The project supplies lawn and garden water and well augmentation for 600 rural households. The project also includes domestic and industrial water supplies capable of meeting the needs of the towns of Cortez, Dove Creek, Towaoc and rural water providers for the next 50 years.
Another benefit that was ignored in the “plug” story is that before McPhee Dam, the Dolores River was reduced to a trickle by the end of July and Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company shareholders didn’t have enough water to finish the growing season. Post-McPhee, MVIC is able to provide irrigation water through September. The project currently stores 32,000 acre feet – the second largest allocation in the project, for release to the downstream fishery. Fish flows in August would have been 10 cfs are now 75 cfs.
The benefits of placing McPhee Dam on the Dolores River do come with important challenges. The biggest challenge is how best to manage water available for release out of McPhee to support sensitive native fish species that could someday be listed as threatened and endangered. This challenge is being addressed openly and transparently in a number of forums, including the Dolores River Dialogue and the Lower Dolores Working Group.
Work that has been ongoing since 2004 has culminated in the formation of an implementation team made up of fishery managers, water managers, conservation organizations and boating advocates. These partners have formulated the Lower Dolores River Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for Native Fish. This plan provides an annual framework for selecting among opportunities to improve the status of native fish, setting annual monitoring strategies and evaluating the results of adaptive management experiments.
Another highly valued asset is the unique boating experience on 200 miles of the Dolores River from McPhee Reservoir to the Colorado River confluence. Boating releases are made in years when the inflows to McPhee are greater than the storage capacity of the reservoir. The project commitment to boaters is to release excess water for multi-day quality boating opportunities. The boaters have been very supportive of conducting these releases to realize the ecological benefits, which the implementation plan intends to achieve.
In “managed spill” years, such as 2007-2011, boating days can be combined with ecological objectives, and water stored for fish releases can be held to allow for larger baseflow releases after the managed spill ends. In periods of drought, such as 2012-2014, there are no boating releases, and project allocations to irrigators and the fish share equal shortages. The long-term challenge is to make the most of the good years and become as resilient as possible in drought years. McPhee Reservoir is the key to managing both ends of the hydrologic cycle.
Michael Preston is general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District. Reach him at (970) 565-7562 mpreston@frontier.net.
