In the News

Water, Drought, Agricultural Realities and Wildfire Threat Amount to “a Tough Year” Ahead

With the United States Congress in recess, Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen has been out and about in her district, and she spent Friday, April 10 in Chaffee County, including a stop at the Upper Ark Water Conservancy, organized by Executive Director Greg Felt. Felt assembled a group of inter-related agencies and representatives to present a coordinated view of what Chaffee is facing.

Felt started with the truly awful news. “Our snowpack, above us here, is about 19 percent of normal. We’re in a tough situation. The transmountain water we normally get each year — we’re not going to get.”

“The impacts of drought are all around us,” began Mountain Zone Fire Management Officer Chris Naccarato. “We’ve got live and dead fuels needing moisture. We have drought-stressed fuel — dead spruce and more tree mortality — susceptible to fire and disease, meaning we’ve got a higher potential for human-caused fire.”

He went on to add that the county could soon be at Stage 2 fire restrictions [Steamboat Springs already is], which will have recreational limitations and economic impacts.

National Public Land Council Member Tim Canterbury weighed in representing the agricultural sector. “We’re trying to open up more targeted grazing, so we can help with fire breaks and reduce fuels,” he began. “Beef herds are at the lowest numbers in decades, and with the drought, we can’t rebuild herd numbers this year.”

He laid out the crisis for Western agriculture: “We’re facing low water flows, meaning we won’t get a hay crop. The cost for feed is going to be greater. The staff at BLM and USFS has been great, but water is the big issue this year. We just can’t haul water to hundreds of cattle. We’re going to be asking to do emergency wells to water cattle.”

He paused and added, “This drought — I’m a fifth generation rancher, and I’ve never seen anything like this. This is pretty significant. If we get an El Niño, good. If not– we’re hurtin’.”

Buena Vista Town Manager Brian Berger representing municipalities weighed in, noting that while there is “water in the pipes” for current uses, the town is seeking to diversify water sources, carefully husbanding water rights, and augmentation is what will determine how much housing can be built. “The water rights we do have — what we can call on — have never been called, and we don’t know what will happen if we do.”

He added that while the town of Buena Vista is communicating with residents regarding the need to conserve, splitting peak demand, that “We want them to have gardens and kids’ splash pads, just be careful.”

The assembled group was blunt about the issues the county is facing: “The county has come off a bad winter tourism season, and our [sales] tax base is down,, and now we’re facing impacts due to lack of snowmelt, the rivers are down, and this could impact tourism on top of the threats of wildfire and on top of the massive federal budget cuts.”

Rivers and Streamflows, Recreation and Fisheries

Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA) Director Tom Waters weighed in, explaining the economic impacts for the AHRA counties of Lake, Chaffee, Fremont, and Pueblo. “This situation is complex,” he began, laying out a comparison of four years — with 2002 and 2026 the drought years:

2001 – rafting a peak at the park — $10 million

2002 – rafting at peak at the park — $5 million

2025 – rafting at peak at the park — $17 million

2026 – rafting at peak at the park — ?

“The total economic output in the Upper Ark is $43 million per year. We’re unique in river recreation.”

He added that outfitters are trying to shift gears, considering switching from rafts to inner tubes for instance. He noted that the Voluntary Flow Management Program normally supplies water from July 1 to August 15 for recreational boating, and the rest of the year the flows support the gold medal fishing waters. “The silver lining has been that historically after a drought year, the fisheries tend to increase in population.”

Post presented a concerning economic picture. “This drought is on top of a lot of other things. the EDC [Chaffee Development Corporation] is trying to create year-around jobs. But between drought, and recreation, ag, and fear of wildfires, compared to the tough years of 1976 and 2002 — this one will be worse. What is the exponential danger in real estate is the crisis of insurance.”

The group agreed that rural communities are impacted more by the federal funding cuts, especially cuts to the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC). The cuts are coming while input costs are high and rising for ranchers, and on top of the whiplash that Mother Nature has given the West.

Pettersen, who had been listened intently and asking questions, asked what funding cuts have had the most impact. The group noted the need for economic funding for the SBDC, Department of Human Services (DHS) funding for child welfare, and funds for water projects.

Naccarato added that the nation is now critically short of fire incident management teams that take over when a wildfire grows beyond local ability to handle it, like the Decker Fire quickly did. “Last year with the federal cuts, we went from 90 to 23 teams. between the drought and the wildfire threat — we’re going to try to get through this year.”

“We need a farm bill,” concluded Canterbury. “Small ranchers need help. The average herd size in the nation is now 35 head of cattle.”