At its May 18 meeting, the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) Board of Directors discussed approaches to maintenance for the Running Iron Ranch and work that needs to be done there.
SJWCD board president Randy Cooper provided a summary of the work that he and SJWCD board member Charles Riehm have been doing concerning ranch maintenance.
He explained that he and Riehm met with John Smith, who manages cattle leasing in the area for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the week before the meeting.
He indicated that Smith requested that the district release the cattle lease for an area that the Weber family, the previous tenants of the ranch, were grazing cattle on and turn it back to the USFS.
Cooper stated that the ranch also contains some fence lines that are not “on line,” meaning that the fence line varies from the property line.
He indicated that these lines vary both in directions that benefit the USFS and the ranch’s owners and that the USFS was “incredibly cooperative” about the issue, offering to allow the district to take any extraneous fencing material in the area and use it to repair the fences.
Cooper added that the district has a year to correct the alignment of the fences.
He indicated that the SJWCD would have to pay someone to make these repairs and that ongoing fence maintenance would also be needed this year.
Repairs would need to be done even if no cattle are grazing on the property, Cooper noted, since adjacent property owners are grazing cattle.
He indicated that the USFS does not intend to lease its land near the property for grazing this year due to drought, which reduces the urgency of the issues.
Cooper stated that he and Riehm are having informal conversations with adjacent landowners about what arrangements might be made for cattle grazing on the ranch.
He noted that there is “not a lot of money in this” and that raising cattle on the property might bring in $3,000 to $4,000 a month, but that leasing might be valuable to show income and enterprise on the ranch.
Cooper stated that he and Riehm also met with Steve Laverty, the president of the Park Ditch Company, about maintenance for the ditch, which runs through the ranch.
He noted that the Webers had previously done maintenance on the ditch and that Laverty emphasized the importance of all landowners participating in ditch maintenance.
Cooper indicated that Laverty highlighted the importance of weed control along the ditch and on the property in general.
He stated that one of the more cost-effective ways to do this would be to hire Archuleta County to do weed control on the property.
He commented that the board did not need to make any decision about the issue at the meeting, but does need to continue to think about the topic.
Cooper added that the summer is an especially critical time for weed-control activities.
The board then briefly discussed if not using its water rights for irrigation on the property would risk the abandonment of the water right, with the board concluding that it would have to look at the Park Ditch Company bylaws, but that this would likely not be a threat.
Cooper added that there would likely be irrigation on certain parts of the ranch to help ensure that the property could be used as a “safety net” for an adjacent landowner’s cattle.
He noted that Laverty appreciated that the SJWCD was meeting with him and interested in maintaining the ditch.
Cooper also indicated that some surveying work would need to be done before the fence line alignment corrections are made.
josh@pagosasun.com
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