The evening was full of pomp and circumstance, but the morning
hours of the recent Southwestern Colorado Livestock
Association’s annual gathering were marked by some serious
agriculture policy talk. Much of the discussion centered on
drought. In short, 2012 was brutal. Mike Preston, manager of the
Dolores Water Conservancy District, called it the “driest year
on record” since the district’s formation in 1961. “We used
every drop of allocated water,” he said, adding that Southwest
Colorado began 2012 with a surplus of water from the previous
year. Farmers and ranchers won’t have the same cushion in 2013.
“Reservoir levels are 1,000 feet lower than this time last
year,” he said. Despite recent storms bringing snowpack to near
normal levels, San Juan National Forest Supervisor Mark Stiles
cautioned soil that moisture was still very low. Depending on
precipitation levels the rest of winter and early spring, Stiles
said ranchers could see a “later than normal range-readiness
date” for grazing. “The total season co