Good morning, im pleased it call this subcommittee competing on conservation climate forestry and Natural Resources and grateful the Ranking Member marshall for his partnership in organizing the hearing on with respect water reulgts. I know he shares my concern about the unprecedented drought the west faces as it is relates it declining water levels in the aquifer. Spourp simple. To sound the locker room about the water crisis in the American West. It has not been there dry in 1200 years. If we dont get our act together here it will not only put our with respect agriculture at risk but the American West. My state is at the head waters of the Colorado River which starts as snow melt before cutting across 1400 miles to the sea offer tez the river basin is the life blood and provides the Drinking Water for 40 Million People over s states. It irgates favor million acres of agriculture and under pins the 26 billion and running out of water. The two largest reservoirs lake powell and lake immediate are the lake phaoerd since they were filled like pull has dropped morning 30 feet in the last few years. The water crisis is not limited to the kfrl river basin the most recent data found more than 50 of the entire United States is experiencing severe drought and right now more than 75 of the Western Region is seeing severe drought. These conditions threaten it put farmers and ranchers out of business and threaten the communities to support families and livelihood which is every community and believe threatens our way of life in the west. Farmers like joel drake a dry lavin whaoetd farm has had to tear up nearly a third of his land because there was not enough weather. He had it sell a 10th of his herd because theres not enough grass it graze cattle. A ranch per grand county, colorado, remembers when water used to flow 6,000 cubic feet per second. Now it is lucky to have 1,000 per second. Hair sun a fruit grower said he last hundreds of thousands of dollars the last three years from drought. Theres no longer a slim margin for error. A farmer in the same count used to take one hour it irrigate his soil and knew it takes six and the main reason for this is Climate Change. Rising temperatures means less snow pack and less runoff to feed the rivers and less water for farms for ranchers and kphaopbts across the west. On top of that the rising it was mean whatever water makes it to the roughs evaporates and is absorbed because it is so dry there. Is a five locker room fire in the am American West. When hurricanes and other disasters strike the east coast or tpwufrl states Washington Springs into action it protect these communities. That is what a federal government is supposed to do to bring the full power it together to help fellow citizens. We convenient that response to the with respect water crisis even though its consequences i would argue are far more wide reaching and stand than any other Natural Disaster. That is just water. I have not mentioned how it is unsin arithmeticing the forest and blanketing the communities. Three of the large rlgs filed fires in colorado history were in 2020. The day before new years eve the marshall fire destroyed over 1,000 homes in Boulder County in 24 hours with sheer devastation. Last consider communities will some of the worst air quality because the wildfire. Northern utah and colorado on the same day had the worse air quality in the world worse than beijing and led senator roll me it took a raft trip it talk about water and climate ands from industry. There are days people cant go outside. They cant open their windows and dangerous air pollution puts them at risk and left people in the west it reckon with a sobering possibility in a future where this is not the exception but the norm. I worry that if we dont act urgently on climate it will in make the American West unrecognizable it kids and i refuse it accept that. The people of my state refuse it accept that. They have a room expectation that our National Government will partner with them and help protect the American West. So my hope is our hearing will help shake the complacency and create the momentum it act urgently. I would like to thank the witnesses for sharing their expertise and hearing what they are seeing and experiencing on the ground and ways they are trying to manage the crisis. We need to act now to bring immediate relief it the western communities and cant address the Western Water crisis in any meaning philadelphia way unless away come together in a partnership it undercancer the crisis. I have a map of the u. S. Drought monitor. Senator marshall as staff brought it with the cal so, of wheat golf course and rancher in grand county describing the situation away face. I ask unanimous consent they be entered it the record. That was fun to do. Thank you. I would like it also say thank you it senator boseman the Ranking Member of the agriculture committee. Especially coming from arkansas where they dont have the same Drought Conditions. But let me turn it over it my Ranking Member. Thank you so much and good morning, everyone. Implement it khaefrpbg your subcommittee chairman bennett and for holding this hearing. I want to thank the witness for making the trip and taking several days out of your life and im honored to have our Ranking Member and colleagues for coming. We appreciate that. It has been a decade sense drought was a key focus on hearing and i hope week gain insight on how to address the challenges with respect to drought, wildfire and conservation. Senator been net the western third of kansas and eastern third of colorado look a lot alike. You mentioned the colorado remember but the arc river is person it us. It is spelled like arkansas but we pronounce it is arkansas as it goes out of com through kansas. Im not sure what the yoke sis call it. They call it arkansas but piven joel embiid fly fish being in the heads waters there the may fly hatchery is incredible but were of the riverbed is dry. My wife is from arc and her grand tpartd told me a story of coming to colorado when he was a lawyer, Railroad Lawyer and coming tocom and having the arc river between his legs at the head water and couldnt believe it because the time it got it arc it was were wider than that. Unfortunately too much of kansas it is literally four wheeler trail ride for us. In it 1935 of the the worst dust storm ever in north America Robert giganticer was an of a report from washington, d. C. And summed it up with three little words familiar. Rural life in the dust ball if it rain stphras. This is not knew but it exacerbated. Even today the three words dictate lively lose on the high plains in our home state of kansas and colorado. Last morocco the. Deemed april 1 of the driest months in the last 100 years over half of cost is designated moderate drought and over a third is severe as the chairman commented. So much of kansas and colorado in those extreme Drought Conditions. Just last week the capital, the Topeka Capital Journal reported the projected whaoetd yield is to drop by over 100 million bushels about 30 of the average yield will be impacted by drought this year over a billion dollars it kansas. This lack of rain not only hitters farm production but adversely affects ranchers and families who fall victim it fires and we have had horrible prairie fires the past several years. This lack of rain hurts farm production and adversely effects ranch, and burns ends of dollars lost in assets and the worse of lives of homes and personal lives an skwrpbts of cattle that they cannot replace. Many friends and universities have been working on solutions and im excited to hear from them and hole r hope this will yield positive results. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you very much, senator marshall. It is nice to have a neighbor as a Ranking Member. Senator, boseman do you having in . I will now introduce the three witnesses i invited to testify it today and senator marshall will introduce his two from the Arkansas River valley. These are all the leading sports in their fields with decades of experience in management of our warts from snow mac and all of tell partnered with tkwrs groups to manage the Water Resources it pressure the economy for the next generation. Our first witness is the Andrew Mueller a long time leader in with respect wartd issues with sentence seufr policy legal and Technical Expertise and currently service as general manager of the Colorado River water kdistrict headquartered in glen ward springs, the river district leads the management of the Colorado River for 15 with respect counties along with broader use of the water in my state. The Colorado River district has led efforts it predict critical water flows sustain agriculture and protect fish species in the upper basin. Before leading there he practiced 23 years and specialized in water, Natural Resources and lands use issues and he earned his degree from the university of colorado and b. A. In Kenyon College in ohio. Thank you for your leadership and being here. Dr. Courtney shuttles schultz is authored over 50 publications on forest policy and book on the collaborative Landscape Restoration Program alleged usda. Dr. Schultz is a at Colorado State university and her research focuses on lefthand skaup restoration, fewer management and adapting it khraoplt clang on u. S. Forest lands. Dr. Schultz is a director of the Public Lands Policy Group which produces research it strengthen management and policy related it our public lands. She started. C. S. U. Claimant adan tags partnership it can connect scientists appear policy makesers to work to help American West adapt it Climate Change. Dr. Schultz has a b. Trafplt stanford and m. S. In kbiology and stageable development from the university of maryland and ph. D. In forestry. Thank you for being here. The last witness i want to dangerous is dr. Ellen herbert as members of this subcommittee know well it is a leading advocate of sports machine and women completed to conserving americas wetlands. It is conserved overruled 15 million, a of water foul habitat and already has supported the protection of inner 177 million acres of wetlands. Dr. Prbt r herbert is a member of the international saoupbs team where she evaluates the outcomes of their kwork thraug field experiment station, numerical modeling and before that she completed research on the fact of drought and sea level changes in the San Francisco bay and coastal georgia. Dr. Hurblt earned a b. A. In biology from Kenyan College and h. D. From Indiana University and graduate Research Fellow for the National National as soon as foundation. I cannot thank you enough for your leadership on those and making the trip for the hearing. I look forward your testimony and hop it will give our colleagues a better feeling for the klimt change. Thank you and i recognize Ranking Member marshall it introduce the next two witnesses. Im pleased to two introduce two panels mr. Earl lewis and tom willis and they are both good friends i have none for decades and they live eat and sleep conservation and i appreciate both of them being here today. Earl aou which is is the chief her the Water Resources and member of the Western StateWater Council dead kited his career to Water Resources in kansas and he is responsible for any laws in the state related to worth kmanagement and criminal. In addition it his role as chief engineer he was on the governors Water Vision Team developing the longterm vision for the future of water supply in kansas and on multiple boards relateded to water policy. Tom tom willis is a titan of agriculture, as an entrepreneur, businessman and a lifelong conservationist before it was invoked. He has many ventures, but one of them is the owner of the farm south of garden city, kansas where he tried to cope crops on six or eight inches of rain every year. Tom was the first to establish a Water Technology farm in the state of kansas in partnership with the kansas water ops. Since 2016, tom and his son, a veteran, have been studying and implementing new technologies, such as drip irrigation, and Aerial Photography to manage irrigation on their operation. As we continue discussing solutions for Water Management and usage, im confident that the perspectives of these two will provide beneficial to the committee. In one final shout out, i want to shout out to dr. Herbert, you have been a lifelong partner to my family and one of our choices for charitable contribution. Any written testimony be on that we will include in the record. You may proceed with your testimony and we will go right down the line. Chairman bennett, Ranking Member marshall, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak about the crisis im seeing play out before my eyes in western colorado. Im the general manager of the Colorado RiverWater Conservation district. As a Regional Government we lead in the conservation, development and protection of the headwaters of the Colorado River and a 15 county area in western colorado. The precipitation in our district provides 65 of the Colorado Rivers annual flow. We are at the headwaters of the river system that supports 40 Million People, 5 million irrigated of agriculture, 30 tribal nations, seven states and 11 national parks. We are the first link in a chain vital to the health and future of the single most important Natural Research resource in the american southwest. The Colorado River is referred to as the hardest working marin america. Maybe even folks from arkansas would disagree. But, even in wet years, the river no longer reaches its natural amount of the sea of cortez and claims to water exceed its annual average flow every year. The masses massive system of federal water on the West Reservoir was designed to accommodate the known variability in the river system and worked extremely well for over 50 years. The longest and most severe drought on record. And that once highly functioning federal system, once depleted, with only 34 of system storage remaining, forcing the department of interior in the states last year and this year to resort to emergency actions to keep the system from collapse. Over the last 22 years, the flow to the Colorado River has been 20 below average in science tell us we should anticipate and plan for significant reduction in flow in the future. The climate we have experienced in the last 20 years, as senator bennett alluded to, has been hotter and drier than any time in the last 1200 years. There is a direct causal relationship between rising temperatures in the volume of water flowing in the Colorado River at its tributaries. Western colorado, the most significant regional source of water in the Colorado River is an epicenter for significantly above average rising temperatures. Most of our counties experience a four degree fahrenheit rise in temperature since 1895. With greatly accelerating temperatures over the last decade, a very concerning trend. For every one degree fahrenheit rise we see streamflow reductions between 3 and 9 . None have felt these climate impacts more than our familyowned farms and ranches in our Colorado River district. The resources of the pastor no longer physically or legally available for many of our agriculture producers. Families who have been involved in ranching for multiple generations are being forced to sell their cattle and confront tremendously uncertain futures. This drought is threatening our local, regional and National Food supply. We cannot nor will we throw up our hands in surrender the thriving american southwest for forces of Climate Change. Citizens, communities and governments are developing strategies, baz in the past when our nation has been confronted, we