Home | Arizona | California | Colorado | Idaho | Kansas | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Mexico
North Dakota | Oklahoma | Oregon | South Dakota | Texas | Utah | Washington | Wyoming
Bridging-the-Headgate in Colorado
The State of Colorado is served by three Reclamation Area Offices. Eastern Colorado is covered by the Eastern Colorado Area Office headquartered in Loveland, Colorado. Western Colorado is assisted by the Western Colorado Area Office, with a northern division headquartered in Grand Junction, and a southern division located in Durango. The San Luis Valley in southern Colorado is served by the Albuquerque Area Office in New Mexico (see map, and table of contacts in this section). Reclamation's western headquarters and Technical Services Center is located in Denver, Colorado.
Reclamation and CASCD
Reclamation's Western Colorado, Eastern Colorado, and Albuquerque Area Offices teamed up in May 1999 to sign a statewide "Bridging-the-Headgate" Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Colorado Association of Soil Conservation Districts (CASCD). Reclamation also finalized a support agreement designed to provide $15,000 per year to CASCD for the next three years for the purposes of carrying out activities identified in the MOU. Reclamation be report on collaborative activities in Colorado through CASCD's periodic newsletter "The Conservator." Reclamation developed an exhibit for the CASCD annual convention in November 1999 to promote the WCFSP and "Bridging-the-Headgate" partnership.
Also, statewide, Reclamation has partnered with the Colorado Soil Conservation Board, the NRCS, the Colorado Riparian Association, the BLM, and others, to support the development of "River and Riparian Study Centers" throughout the state. The study centers are actually mobile river models mounted on portable trailers. The working models depict the importance of wetlands and riparian zones as functional components of river ecosystems. An indoor model has also been developed for use in exhibit halls, classrooms, or meetings.
Western Colorado Area Office - Grand Junction, CO
Reclamation's Western Colorado Area Office, with offices in Grand Junction and Durango, is partnering with the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts to carry out water resource related education and information activities in 2006. These activities include the Colorado Teachers Conservation Workshop, Camp Rocky, and the Colorado Conservator.
Reclamation continues to support the operation of “River and Riparian Study Centers” throughout the state. The study centers are actually mobile river models mounted on portable trailers. The working models depict the importance of wetlands and riparian zones as functional components of river ecosystems. An indoor model has also been developed for use in exhibit halls, classrooms, or meetings.
Past projects include: an agreement with the Mesa Soil Conservation District to develop lawn watering brochures, as well as an administrative guide for ditch associations dealing with legal incorporation within the State of Colorado.
Reclamation has worked with the NRCS's Grand Junction field office to develop two wildlife/stockwater ponds; the Durango field office to install parshall flumes for the Little Stick Ditch Company; and the Cortez NRCS field office to conduct an education seminar at the 1999 Four States Agricultural Expo in Cortez, Colorado. The subject of the seminar was Financial Assistance Opportunities Through the Federal Government.
The Western Colorado office also worked collaboratively with the NRCS on a diversion improvement project for the Silt Water Conservancy District. NRCS developed the plans and specifications, and Reclamation provided funding support, acquired easements, and coordinated the necessary construction permits.
Eastern Colorado Area Office - Loveland, Colorado
Reclamation's Eastern Colorado Area Office is working with the Spanish Peaks-Purgatorie River SCD and the NRCS in the development of "best management practices" for the Purgatorie River Water Conservancy District. Reclamation has been providing financial assistance since 1996 and expects to continue support for the collaborative effort through 2002.
The Eastern Colorado office is working with the Sangre de Cristo Resource Conservation &Development (RC&D) Area and the NRCS to develop a River and Riparian Study Center to help teach students about rivers and how they can be affected by human activities, and is also providing assistance in the development of a local irrigation scheduling program to help area farmers improve water management.
Through an agreement with the Fremont SCD and the NRCS, Reclamation is providing financial assistance for the implementation of a weather station that will accurately collect local weather data to determine actual crop and lawn watering needs in the Canon City area.
Albuquerque Area Office - Albuquerque, New Mexico
A cooperative agreement with the NRCS, the San Luis Valley RC&D Area in southern Colorado, and Reclamation's Albuquerque Area Office is providing support for a pilot program to demonstrate measurable benefits in water savings and erosion protection from the application of polyacrylamides, a chemical soil additive that binds the soils.
