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Some of the water scarcity issues on my land include the river not flooding the valley bottom for the last 2 years and it’s not looking very likely for this spring either. The slough on the east side of the river serves as a source of stock water, both for cattle on the bench and we pump water to the top of Big Mountain just east of there for summer pasture. It’s the only source of water for miles around up there and is very crucial to our ranch but is also greatly appreciated by the wildlife in the area. For 2 years now I’ve had to bring the cattle home several weeks early because the slough has run dry. This impacts the grass I’ve banked for fall and winter grazing enormously. I would like to figure out what I can do to mitigate that.
This first photo is a picture Big Mountain where we pump the water to in the summer. The next two are of the river bottom, and they’re not very good but it shows the river and slough areas where the willows are which is what we pump from. The last photo is of a bear swimming in our tank just for fun!
Hello, this Zuni bowl took us about 1/2 day to build and that included the time it took to get rock and haul it back. I have not seen it work yet because of the lack of moisture unfortunately. I think we could have made this one smaller after watching the video provided to us again, but I have another large headcut I’d really like to address in the same way.
There may be too many erosion issues on my place to get an estimate of the actual economic impact, unfortunately lol. There is one, though, that I have a clear idea on and that is a bend in the river that is washing away and is in danger of washing out my irrigation ditch. I have a permit to rip rap it and an estimated cost of $20,000. I would prefer to try LTPBR here. I believe the Low-Bank Builder and live stakes could be used here.
I also have some dry land areas that are prone to head cutting. Holly and I build our first Zuni Bowl in a small one and there is a large one that I have not addressed yet but will include photos.
I would like to do some work on the streams on my property to help slow the flow rate and hopefully bring the groundwater closer to the surface, improving the health of the ecosystem which would of course have a huge economic impact as well.
I am very open any thoughts or advice anyone might have…I have attatched some photos.
I would like to make my land more drought proof in general… I have property in the Bull Mountains with several creeks and springs and through the years I have seen boggy areas dry up. We are implementing a conifer mitigation plan and would like to improve the health of our water resources using BDS’s and other appropriate management techniques (including grazing plans). I also rely on our river in the Boulder Valley to flood the hay meadows each spring and rejuvenate the sloughs/subirrigation, and also store stock water through the summer. Due to low snow pack, drought, and increasing demands on our watershed each year the river has not flooded for the last 2 years and may not this spring as well. I am hoping there may be projects or ideas out there to help with this. I know the river is incised and overwidened in areas.
I am very exciting to learn all I can about different techniques and how to implement them properly!
