An occasional series of conversations with experts on the science and policies regarding fires.
The conversation about forest health, climate change and last year’s wildfire season moved to the money side this week, with four bills dealing with mitigation and fire suppression on the agenda.
Monday, the House Agriculture, Livestock and Water Committee signed off on House Bill 1008, which would allow local communities to set up their own special districts to finance local mitigation projects.
It’s worth noting that the state’s wish list for mitigation funding is in the ballpark of $750 million, just for the most urgent areas. It would take $2.4 billion to fund all mitigation projects in unhealthy forests, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
Water speculation is ‘all the problems’ in one, Colorado group warns By Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism and Luke Runyon/KUNC
May 7, 2021
A Parshall flume measures the water in the Alfalfa Ditch, which diverts water from Surface Creek, near Cedaredge, Colorado. The water is used to irrigate hayfields at nearby Harts Basin Ranch. (Photo by Luke Runyon/KUNC)
Harts Basin Ranch is a 3,400-acre expanse of hayfields and pasture just south of Cedaredge, Colorado, in Delta County. Owned by Conscience Bay Co. in Boulder, it holds the oldest water right on Surface Creek, dating to 1881. (Photo by Heather Sackett/Aspen Journalism)
Glenwood Springs City Council will discuss how to proceed with a major funding shortfall for the Three Mile Creek Confluence project, which came up nearly two-thirds short of the $631,771 estimated cost.
The work most important to the health of the riparian ecosystem was estimated to cost $113,559, which includes restoration revegetation, plantings and irrigation. In total, the project is short $391,021.
Last fall, the city applied for three grants two from the Colorado Water Conservation Board and one from the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
“We were successful with the two CWCB applications ultimately receiving a total award of $190,000, the maximum permitted via grant funding stipulations and the city’s matching funds,” the meeting documents state.
Barbara McLachlan: Colorado agriculture is nonpartisan
Durango, Colorado Currently Fri 1% chance of precipitation 43% chance of precipitation
Friday, April 30, 2021 5:03 AM
Toggle font size Escuchar en Español: Hollis Walker
My grandfather was a mover and shaker in the Colorado sugar-beet industry with Great Western Sugar, and he was also a professor of agriculture at Colorado State University. But the agricultural roots my brother and sisters and I most appreciated were the ones associated with trips to the Western Stock Show, Little Britches Rodeo and the Colorado State Fair.
We rarely missed a show together. It was during those fun days we became closely acquainted with the importance of agriculture in Colorado, as we met my grandfather’s coworkers and friends, many ranchers and farmers, my cousin the cowboy and his friends, and the people behind the scenes in the rodeo and livestock handling.
Published: Friday, April 30, 2021
Michael Connor. Photo credit: U.S. Department of Interior/Flickr
President Biden has selected Michael Connor as his nominee for Department of Defense s assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. Connor, pictured at the far right at a 2015 service event, previously served as the Interior Department s deputy secretary. U.S. Department of Interior/Flickr
President Biden s pick this week to oversee the Army s vast natural resources operation would bring to the job decades of water experience at the Interior Department and on Capitol Hill.
The president tapped Michael Connor to be the Department of Defense s assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, which oversees the Army Corps of Engineers and its huge network of dams and other projects.