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Mancos Conservation District updates commissioners on stream, wildfire and soil programs
Summary
Mancos Conservation District told Montezuma County commissioners it has new and paused funding for water and forestry projects, is finalizing a stream management plan, and is reassessing a soil-health outreach program after a federal grant change.
Danny Margolis, representing the Mancos Conservation District, told the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners that the district is closing out a stream management plan and managing a mix of new funding and paused projects.
The district has secured a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART award and related funding streams that Margolis summarized as “$2,500,000 for 3 diversion upgrades, smart metering on 10 head gates, and about 600 plus acres of forest management funded through that.” He said parts of that funding were frozen earlier in the year and that the district received word the freeze should be lifted “sometime this week.”
Margolis said the district is already doing one diversion upgrade, but implementation has been delayed “until the end of the summer, early fall” so producers can divert water before calls are made on streams. He also said the district received Colorado Healthy River Fund support to continue a decade-long water-quality monitoring program and that staff were conducting eDNA sampling "to look at the efficacy of some of the upgrades we did on a diversion last year, before fish migration."
Margolis reported the Southwestern Water Conservation District put a $26,000,000 proposal into the Bureau of Reclamation’s B2E (bucket to environmental) process that listed Mancos projects; the proposal was awarded in January but “was never contracted” and its future is uncertain. He said the district’s projects listed there included phreatophyte removal, stream upgrades through the town of Mancos, and work with landowners to reduce beaver impacts on head gates and culverts.
The district is under contract with the Colorado Water Conservation Board for a Wildfire Ready Watersheds project, Margolis said, with a consultant team kickoff planned and completion expected by the end of 2026. That work will focus on pre-fire planning to address post-fire impacts to water resources in the Mancos and Dolores watersheds.
On forestry, Margolis said the district recently completed winter pile burning, plans mastication and thinning RFPs for 300-plus acres this year, and was awarded a Natural Disaster Mitigation enterprise grant for $850,000 to support wildfire mitigation. He said the district is balancing per-acre cost-share rates to secure landowner buy-in while moving projects forward.
Margolis also said the district’s soil health program — which enrolled 13 producers — was shut down by the state after changes to the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities grant at the federal level. He said USDA’s new “Advancing Markets for Producers” program is expected early this summer and the district will evaluate whether to apply or retool the program.
On mining and water, Margolis said Metallic Minerals submitted a substitute water supply plan related to exploratory drilling on the East Mancos and that the district commented. He described the district’s suggestion that the company use a tank or holding pond up river to avoid creating substitution precedents that could affect downstream water-right holders. He said the company had offered commitments, including interest in third-party water-quality monitoring.
Margolis closed by noting the district’s conservation technician program partners with NRCS; the state supports 80% of those salaries with the district covering 20 percent. He said one technician was hired by NRCS in January and that a hiring freeze threatens program continuity.
The commissioners asked questions about which diversions would be upgraded and the number and types of producers served; Margolis said the district is working with ditch companies to select sites and that it serves “hundreds of producers,” with forage (hay), ranching support and diversified vegetable production among the principal agricultural products.
The district’s materials and Margolis’ remarks indicate ongoing project timelines through 2026, several conditional funding streams, and a mix of completed monitoring and deferred implementation tied to water calls, grant contracting, and landowner participation.
