Melting snow and flowing irrigation ditches mean spring has finally arrived at the base of Grand Mesa in western Colorado.
Harts Basin Ranch, a 3,400-acre expanse of hayfields and pasture just south of Cedaredge, in Delta County, is coming back to life with the return of water.
Twelve hundred of the ranch’s acres are irrigated with water from Alfalfa Ditch, diverted from Surface Creek, which flows down the south slopes of the Grand Mesa. The ranch has the No. 1 priority water right meaning the oldest, which comes with the ability to use the creek’s water first dating to 1881.
Aspen Journalism
Melting snow and flowing irrigation ditches mean spring has finally arrived at the base of Grand Mesa in western Colorado.
Harts Basin Ranch, a 3,400-acre expanse of hayfields and pasture just south of Cedaredge, in Delta County, is coming back to life with the return of water.
Twelve hundred of the ranch’s acres are irrigated with water from Alfalfa Ditch, diverted from Surface Creek, which flows down the south slopes of the Grand Mesa. The ranch has the No. 1 priority water right meaning the oldest, which comes with the ability to use the creek’s water first dating to 1881.
Colorado is examining water speculation, and finding it’s all the problems in one
A state work group is trying to balance risks from investors with negative impacts to agriculture and is running into complicated questions. Author: Heather Sackett (Aspen Journalism), Luke Runyon (KUNC) Published: 3:19 PM MDT May 6, 2021 Updated: 3:19 PM MDT May 6, 2021
ASPEN, Colo. Melting snow and flowing irrigation ditches mean spring has finally arrived at the base of Grand Mesa in western Colorado.
Harts Basin Ranch, a 3,400-acre expanse of hayfields and pasture just south of Cedaredge, in Delta County, is coming back to life with the return of water.