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KSJD Newscast - March 10th, 2016

  • Warm weather is shrinking area snowpack, but plenty remains for irrigation.
  • Spring weather also means weeds, a growing and perennial problem for Montezuma County.

Warm weather is shrinking area snowpack, but plenty remains. Dolores Water Conservancy District general manager Mike Preston tells KSJD that going into February, daily Sno-tel readings in the watershed were as high as 150 percent of median. Now they’re down to 98 percent. That’s still enough that the water district will be able to meet all its Dolores Project allocations and obligations this summer, but the question is whether there will be extra water for a boating release. Preston says that hinges on whether there is significant snow or rain before May 1st. The long-term forecast is for a wetter March, April and May.

Warm weather also means weeds, a growing and perennial problem for Montezuma County. On Monday, county weed manager Bonnie Loving presented a draft management plan to the commissioners. Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company general manager Brandon Johnson voiced concerns with parts of the plan, particularly a provision requiring weed eradication on 15-foot buffer strips along irrigation ditches. Johnson said 90 percent of the problem stems from McPhee Reservoir because when weeds sprout there, they spread seeds in waterways. The parties agreed to continue discussions to finalize the plan.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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