SHELLEY RIDENOUR Star-Tribune correspondent | Posted: Monday, May 26, 2008 12:00 am
RAWLINS - For Saratoga resident Joe Glode, opposing a request to change the use of 54,493 acre feet of water in Pathfinder Reservoir is a simple matter.
"I like this area the way it is," he said. "I like the open space, the clean, the green, watching bald eagles swoop through the valley. I like all of that."
Simply, he says, "nothing is more important than your water."
Glode has rallied the support of members of two Upper North Platte Valley organizations which are leading the charge to oppose the change of use requested by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. He�s president of the Upper North Platte Valley Water Users Association and the Upper North Platte Valley Water Conservation Association. Along the way, they�ve picked up support from a couple dozen other groups and entities, too.
In January, the Bureau of Reclamation filed a petition with the state Board of Control seeking a change in use for 53,493 acre feet of Pathfinder�s water and asking that water be assigned a 1904 water right. The petition seeks a dedication of 33,493 acre feet for fish and wildlife purposes in Nebraska and asks that the other 20,000 acre feet be changed to municipal uses that would be made available to the state of Wyoming and leased to Wyoming cities and towns.
If the change in use for the 54,493 acre feet is approved, two things will happen, Glode said: "The condition of the habitat will deteriorate," and there will be a loss of large tracts of open land which will be broken up into ranchettes, "much like you have near ski areas."
"I like it this way better," Glode said.
BuRec officials say the change is needed to comply with an agreement involving Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado to provide water for endangered species in Nebraska. Wyoming has agreed to contribute $6 million for an extension of the Pathfinder Dam, an effort to compensate for storage capacity lost to sediment buildup. The program calls for some reservoir water to be sent downstream to preserve endangered species.
BuRec officials also say the change in use wouldn't hurt upstream water users.
Glode simply doesn�t believe the government officials. He says the BuRec�s theories about how to take the 54,493 acre feet of water and do no harm to Platte Valley ranchers don�t hold water.
Glode and Fritz Holleman, a Boulder, Colo., attorney working for the two North Platte groups, both say this change in use plan violates Wyoming water law. According to Holleman, because Pathfinder was authorized for irrigation in 1904, the requests are for new uses, which isn�t allowed under Wyoming law.
That�s a big part of the argument they plan to present at the Oct. 20 hearing before the state Board of Control in Casper.
"In general, we�re going to look at whether this activity is appropriate in Wyoming water law," Glode said. "We say it isn�t, and we will look at showing that" to the Board of Control members.
The Saratoga water groups plan to present information about what the change in use would mean to individual water users in the Upper North Platte Valley. "We�ll put faces on the people who�ll be injured," Glode said.
Glode fears the change in use could devastate Wyoming.
"Once you�ve opened the door, there�s no turning back," he said. "I can�t overemphasize that once you turn over your rights, there�s no turning back."
Glode says the 54,493 acre feet isn�t in the system. The level of Pathfinder has decreased in recent years, and according to the BuRec year-end report issued last October, Pathfinder held the least amount of water ever on Sept. 30, 2007 - 171,100 acre feet of water, 17 percent of its 1.1 million acre feet capacity.
"The innuendo is the pie is bigger than it is. But in fact the pie isn�t bigger," Glode said. "They�re just taking water from someone else."
It�s not only people who live in the Saratoga area who will be hurt if the change in use is approved, according to Glode. People who live and ranch along the Sweetwater River also stand to lose from a change of use, as do ranchers in the Torrington area.
Holleman has said publicly that no matter the outcome of the Board of Control�s October hearing, the issue will be appealed to District Court. Glode agrees. But how an appeal of the ruling will go remains to be seen. The potential for the case to drag on before a district judge certainly exists, Glode says.
And, after a district judge rules, the matter could still be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Water expert and University of Wyoming professor emeritus Quentin Skinner, spoke recently in Saratoga at a meeting organized by the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District. Skinner reminded the audience that one of the reasons for a high quality of life in the Upper North Platte River Valley is irrigation.
Flood irrigation, which Skinner says is relatively inefficient, helps create wetlands and riparian areas and boosts streamflows, according to Saratoga rancher Jack Berger. Berger is chairman of the conservation district.
If the water is taken for another use, Saratoga-area ranchers will see more than one loss, Berger said. First, they�ll have a one-time economic loss as they go from irrigated land to dryland farming, and then an annual loss in agriculture harvest for every subsequent year.
"There isn�t a lot of profit in ranching anyway," Berger said. "A revenue loss leads to some people selling out."
That leads to people buying up little 40-acre or smaller parcels, and then the entire landscape of the valley is changed, Berger said. The conservation district doesn�t want to see that.
Higher streamflows mean better fishing, Glode said. And more water in the North Platte River also allows for other kinds of recreation, including boating.
"Any change to irrigation will alter that fishing," Glode said. If 54,493 acre feet is diverted from Pathfinder, irrigation practices in the Platte Valley must change, he said, because there isn�t enough water to fill all the needs.
"Once we start down that slippery slope, there�s no going back," Glode said.
* A public hearing on a change of use petition filed regarding 53,493 acre feet of water from Pathfinder Reservoir is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 20 in the Casper Room of the Agricultural Resources and Learning Center at 2011 Fairgrounds Road in Casper.
* Thirty people, groups or entities filed for party status in the matter before the May 9 deadline. They are allowed to provide testimony or information to the board at the October hearing.
* Those groups include the two organizations leading the opposition to the change in use: the Upper North Platte Valley Water Conservation Association and the Upper North Platte Valley Water Users Association. Joe Glode of Saratoga is president of both groups and is spearheading the opposition effort.
* Several businesses also sought party status, include the Crofts Sheep Co. of Lander, Hack�s Tackle and Outfitters of Saratoga, the Peryam Ranch of Denver, Silver Spur Ranches of Encampment, Ferris Mountain Ranch of Rawlins, Kraft Ranches of Encampment, Romios Ranch of Encampment, XH Land and Cattle Co. of Saratoga, Condict and Sons of Saratoga, the Graham Ranch of the Sweetwater Valley, Myers Land and Cattle Co. of the Sweetwater Valley, and the Sheeprock Ranch of Saratoga.
* Government entities which filed for party status are the town of Riverside, the Fremont County Commission, the town of Saratoga, the Popo Agie Conservation District in Lander, the town of Encampment, the Carbon County Commission, the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District in Saratoga and the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts in Cheyenne.
* Individuals who sought party status include Jack Berger of Saratoga, Thad Dockery of Lander, Carl Shaffer of Rock River, Alden Condict of Saratoga, Carroll Miller of Greeley, Colo., Jeb Steward of Encampment, John Corbett of Lander and Montie Munroe of Encampment.]]->