Wild River study
Discussion of the Wild River Study on the Dolores River was the first item on the agenda at the county commissioners meeting. The commissioners have sent a telegram to Governor Lamm requesting that the West Fork of the Dolores River not be designated in his report to Washington.
McPhee land
Walter Posey of the Dolores Water Conservancy District reviewed with the county the McPhee Reservoir site and the land the Bureau of Reclamation proposed to take possession of. Commissioner McComb stated that the county is very concerned about the amount of land that would be taken out of the county tax rolls, and said that too much land in the county is already federally owned.
Cloud seeding
The Colorado River Basin’s cloud seeding study called Project Skywater was discussed by water officials. The five-year cloud seeding research project was funded in 1973 by the Bureau of Reclamation. A budget of $6.6 million supported the project with cloud seeding taking place in 14 sites across the nation. In the Colorado watershed, surveying the potential effects during a 20-year period, Skywater estimated that cloud seeding could produce 1.3 million acre-feet in the basin annually. The program had 147 experimental days with 71 seed, and 76 no-seed decisions.
Dallas Creek funding
At the urging of Sen. Floyd Haskell, Senate conferees on a public works appropriations bill agreed to funding for the Dallas Creek water project in southwestern Colorado. The funding of $871,000 was agreed upon for the project, which would consist of two earth-fill dams and a network of canals and pumping stations. One dam on the Uncompahgre River will create the Ridgway Reservoir north of the town of Ridgway, and one across Pleasant Valley Creek to form Dallas Divide Reservoir.
