There is water underneath

Recent articles on how California's drought will be affecting food production and prices has raised awareness of how we depend on water to keep our near-deserts producing so much food.

The same thing is happening here in Colorado's San Luis Valley. 

Every time I pick up the local paper, there are articles on limiting agricultural water usage.

Didn't think much grows here? Well, it does.

And, yes, this is a desert at 7,600 feet elevation, made up of 8,000 square miles.
The Rocky Mountains split just below the middle of the state,  of giving it an arial view a wishbone. With 14,000 foot mountains at it's borders, the Sangre de Cristo Mts. on the east and the San Juan range with Continental Divide on the west, their snows melt into the San Luis Valley.

And the floor of the valley has been very helpful in making this an agricultural mecca. 
The surface is very porous. For example, there is a stream near the Great Sand Dunes that often has water from the melting snow running at 7 cubic feet per minute.  By the time you walk along this stream about 8 miles, it is flowing at only 3.7. That's because the water has seeped into the underground aquifer.

Here is what the valley floor looks like:

It has a very shallow water table with an "unconfined" aquifer at 12 to 300 feet. In fact, we know people who's water comes form wells dug by their ancestors at the turn of the prior century, at a total depth of only 24 feet. 

For about a century and a half before that, the descendants of the original Spanish and Mexican settlers dug surface canals to bring water to their crops from where the superficial unconfined aquifer came up onto the ground.

It was this surface water that made this an agricultural valley since the 1850's.
Even today, many small land owners make use of the surface community wells for their personal and planting use.

There is a problem however, with having water so close to the surface: for years people have taken it for granted. They let it run. And, it evaporates. 

How much water do we get? Sure there is a lot of melting snow, but we only get 7.5 inches of precipitation yearly. And, 40 inches disappear due to "evapotranspiration". Those are numbers from many years ago. The more you pump up to the surface, the more evaporates. What's worse is that a recent article claims the average temperature here has risen 6 degrees since the 1970's, increasing the evaporation even more.

Anyway…...In the 1950's the deeper "confined" or artesian acquirer was being tapped for more farming.
Now, this is what I see as I drive through this valley: about 1,000 of its 8,000 sq. miles is used in agriculture. There are lots of these circular irrigation systems pumping water from the "confined" or artesian wells.

"Commercial production of potatoes and hay — using 6,000 wells and 2,700 center-pivots to irrigate 120-acre crop circles — exploded after the 1950s.

The pumping has depleted aquifers by more than 1 million acre-feet since 1976 and now is affecting surface streams. One acre-foot approximately serves the needs of two families of four for a year."


Here are 2 pics I got off the internet:

 Lts of circles.

This extra pumping has created a problem for the flow into the Rio Grande River. Back in the 50's New Mexico and Texas laid claim to some of this water. In the 70's the courts sided with them and told CO to deliver. That has not occurred.

Recent court actions have led to limitation of water usage here. "By May, center-pivot farmers must activate a plan to reduce the water pulled from the aquifer by about 30,000 acre-feet a year", says the Denver Post article.

The solution proposed is to significantly increase charges for water, to the point that usage is decreased down to the allowed amounts. And those farmers who do not join a water conservation district to monitor their use, are going to have their wells shut down by the state.

People consider this serious. Some, perhaps because this is where the hops come from for Coors beer. 

Others see it as serious because 80,000 acres are likely to come out of production. And here we have the poorest county in the nation.  In one district, where 38% of the children live in poverty, 40,000 acres or 25% of all production, is likely to be shut down in the next 5 years.

Some don't think curtailing crop production here is bad. About 10-12 years ago articles in Colorado newspapers said that 75% of the state's water was used in agriculture; and, if we were to shut down agriculture in the state, we could triple the state's number of people who could live on the water we were using for agriculture.  Denver in the late 1980's and early 1990's tried in court to force SLV water to be piped through the mountains to their city. New Mexico had the same type of articles appear in their paper about 6-8 years ago: farming took 60% of the state's water and the they could double or triple the state's population if they shut agriculture down in that state. Same push; just a little different percentages.

And about 30 years ago, the Texas Land Commissioner is said to have claimed that they could produce 2 -3 times the amount of crops down in t he Lower Rio Grande Valley (where I grew up, down by McAllen and Brownsville, Texas) with the water used in the SLV. Don't ask me how much would evaporate while flowing nearly 1,900 miles form the Rio Grande's starting point down to their valley at the Gulf of Mexico.

Yes, there is water under our desert, and lots of people want it.

For the time being, the pressure is on SLV to pump less for irrigation, so less evaporates, and more flows down the currently frozen Rio Grande

…assuming Denver or CO Springs don't tap into this aquifer first.

Get more from these articles at 

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_19756115

http://geosurvey.state.co.us/education/Documents/Hydrogeology_of_the_San_Luis_Valley,Colorado_-_An_Overview_-_and_a_Look_at_the_Future.PDF

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2012/world/food-vs-water-high-commodity-prices-complicate-aquifer-protection-in-colorados-san-luis-valley/

It has been a cold winter.

The folks at the Nature Conservancy's Zapata Ranch wrote in their blog that the temperature had not risen above 32 since before Thanksgiving. They were having to bring the young and weak cattle, horse, and buffalo into the barns at night. Understandably, they didn't seem comfortable having other species right next to them in such close quarters.

And it seemed that nights were consistently below zero. So, last week they gave up and moved all their livestock to Kansas.

Well, this week things have warmed up. On many days it has gotten above 40 up here in the mountain.

That has made it real nice to be outside.
But it has it's own bad side effects:

It is hard to slide you skis with ice caked on the bottom.

And snowshoeing is not much easier.

Tomorrow we'll try the old fashioned lace snowshoes, 

and see if that's any better.

What's there to do in all this open space?

Spaces in the San Luis Valley are quite open. 
You might wonder why some come here.

Some have decided to build small homes on the open plains to live on, 
or just to visit on vacation and get away form the big city stress,

'cause solitude and wide open views is what they seek.

But these hardy souls aren't the only ones who like this valley.
20,000+ Greater Sandhill Cranes come by every year, 
from late February to March or April,
as they make this a rest spot on their 800+ mile trek from NM to Idaho.
So check them out during Monte Vista's Crane Festival from March 7-9 this year,
and avoid the crowds of pro photographers who love to shoot them, down in NM
http://www.cranefest.com/cranes.html 

Something else is happening in this valley.
Some want to keep it representing the way life was here, for future generations.
So, The Nature Conservancy has taken it upon itself to acquire much of this land.

Now they have 100,000 acres as a working ranch of cattle and bison, 
for all to come one see how life was here, back in the good old days. 
Go surf their site:
http://www.zranch.org

But if a "road trip" vacation is what you want, 
perhaps on your way to Mesa Verde or other places further west,
check out a trip National Geographic recommends:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/san-luis-valley-colorado-road-trip/


Yep, there is a lot here to see and do .

PS You might have noticed those deep blue skies. No Photoshop or even polarizing filters are needed here. This is just how bright and blue the sky is here at over 7,000 feet, without pollution to hide it from you.

The "Rocky Mountain Serengeti."

According to a Nationalgeographic.com, that's what some call
the area south of the Great Sand Dunes.

We've never been to Africa.

But this is what the San Luis Valley looks like, 
from the Sand Dunes along the Sangre de Cristo Mts in in the north-eastern corner, 
looking towards the San Juan Mountains and the Continental Divide, about 74 miles to the west.

Maybe it's a little barren.

Occasionally, a small grove of trees.

And the fog in the distance sure can give it an exotic look.

Here you don't often see many big animals.
But one night we did.

Three years ago, driving from the Alamosa airport to the cabin at nearly 1 AM,
in -8 degrees, the reflecting headlights off the falling snow limited visibility.

A rabbit hopped front of us and the son-in-law asked if we were likely to hit any animals on this stretch of highway. 
I said I had never seen anything that would cause us any damage.
Just then a deer crossed right in front of us. 
And within five minutes, a really big elk hopped by, jumping higher than the car's hood. 
Next a huge cougar, with muscles you would not believe!

So maybe they are right, this is a little like the Serengeti.

Clouds are some of the most interesting things.

Sometimes it's worth to look up to see a different perspective of what is in front of you.

Here is a "panoramic" picture I took with the iPhone, on our drive into the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

There was a "dome" of clouds covering the entrance to the park.

And at the edge of the dunes, a radiating cluster was present….

looking like a static firecracker explosion, all in white,

which stayed like this for a real long time.

Here in the high desert, you also have to look up to see all there is to see.

Detour to the Sand Dunes

We took a little detour, on our return form this week's shopping, down in Alamosa.

Turned north on CO Hway 150, just west of Blanca,

Colorado's 4th tallest peak, at over 14,000 feet.

Then headed for about 20 miles, to the tallest inland sand dunes in N. America.

Here, the sands from the > 7,000 foot high desert get carried by the winds 
to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo.
As the currents climb the mountain range, the sands get dropped, to make the dunes.


A peculiar sight it is, with dunes right next to a mountain range.

You can walk right up on them, if you like

and, perhaps experience the shifting sand under your shoes.

And while dunes usually makes us think of laying out on the warm sand with a pina colada in our hands…...

first you have to take a little walk to get there.

And in 25 degrees, it's a long, long walk.

What to do in retirement?

You might think that what we do in retirement is a little boring or repetitive. But, what the heck.

We are having fun and doing physical things that we would not have otherwise ventured into.

So, while the knees still work ok, here is what we did yesterday:
Went snowshoeing down an abandoned logging road in the virgin snow.

With just about every step, we'd sink up to our knees.

But, it finally got a little easier as we went back down to 9,000 feet.

Kept our eyes open for wild animal signs, though. 
The day before there were dog-like droppings, but with hair in it. 
No doubt the coyote from down the mountain came up here for a little bunny meal.

The neighbor says that, in the Fall, he's seen 2 mountain lions, roaming together along this road. 
And a black bear that likes to walk between our properties. 
But all the snow was virgin fresh, without a sign of recent activity.

Meanwhile our long legged 14 month-old lab enjoyed himself, 
sometimes running off to make his own trail.

But, eventually decide it was best to backtrack,

and just follow the easy trail we had just made.

Usually he goes about 3 times as far as we.
But in that deep snow yesterday, he only went 2 times as far.

Yes, it was a little tiring for all of us, 
but we knew there would be a nice reward upon our return:

a warm & cozy fire, by which to enjoy a little rest. 

We like to go cross-country skiing

and take 14 month-old lab, about every other day.

He likes to follow the prior days trail, 'cause it's firm enough he does not sink.

But, just about every 75 feet or so, he suddenly jumps into the soft snow

to check the smells around a tree 

or just sniff what other animals might have been around.

Then slowly trudges through the deep snow

till he returns to the packed-down trail

and runs ahead to take the lead.

(PS Pardon the color-tinged snow. 
But there's no way we're going to carry anything heavier than a simple cell phone 
to take pictures of a running dog.)

Waking up at 2 degrees

Woke up the other morning with 2 degrees outside….
and we had turned out the wood stove at 9 PM.

But, lo and behold, 

it was a warm and toasty 49 degrees inside.


Well, I thought it was warm and toasty, compared to the outside. 

The wife had other words for it.

The approaching weather

We didn't know why the dog kept standing at the kitchen window.

Skies were turning a little grey right overhead.

Then things quickly turned from this 

to this

The wind began to blow.

But once inside, he did not seem to mind.