Durango, CO – Southwestern Water Conservation District (SWCD) has been awarded $25.6M from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Upper Colorado River Basin Environmental Drought Mitigation Program (B2E).  The grant application was developed in collaboration with the Southwestern Water Conservation and Infrastructure Partnership (Partnership). The funding, made available through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), is intended to help mitigate the impacts of drought to aquatic habitats with priority to the Colorado River Basin.

The funding award will support 17 projects across the Dolores and San Juan River Basins in Southwest Colorado, which are tributaries to the Colorado River.  The total value of the grant application is $29.3M, including $3.7M of non-federal support provided through cash and in-kind sources from project proponents.

Funding will advance important projects that help address the drought crisis in southwest Colorado through bank stabilization, invasive plant species removal, riparian and process-based restoration, fish passage and habitat connectivity, erosion control, and wetland restoration. Projects were selected based on their feasibility, readiness, and level of stakeholder/community engagement in the region.  The proposal was supported by 37 different federal, state, tribal, and local entities representing regional and local stakeholders.

Project proponents include the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership, Webber Ditch Company, Tres Rios Field Office of Bureau of Land Management, San Juan National Forest Service, RiversEdge West, Mountain Studies Institute, Mancos Conservation District, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the Animas Watershed Partnership.

In 2023, the SWCD Board of Directors recognized a growing need for additional capacity in southwest Colorado to enable rural stakeholders to compete more effectively for federal funding. This led to the creation of the Partnership, a collaborative initiative focused on increasing connections, sharing information, and leveraging resources (such as funding and technical assistance) to advance multi-benefit water projects. The Colorado Water Conservation Board’s (CWCB) Local Capacity Grant, awarded to SWCD in early 2024, played a pivotal role in establishing the Partnership and ensuring the success of the B2E grant. With over 30 active entities, the Partnership continues to coordinate projects, secure funding, and support regional needs. SWCD also developed a project pipeline and a community navigator to connect partners with funding opportunities, resulting in over 240 projects currently in the pipeline.

“Southwestern saw the need and an opportunity to bundle projects to be more competitive and help local stakeholder groups access federal funding,” said Steve Wolff, General Manager. “We look forward to putting this unprecedented federal funding to work for drought resilience in Southwest Colorado. We want to acknowledge the Southwestern Board for their leadership, the Partnership for their enthusiasm and collaboration in putting this program together, and CWCB for their financial support”.

The final grant contract isn’t expected to be executed until late 2025 or early 2026. All funding must be spent by September 30, 2031.

SWCD also eagerly awaits news on the ‘durable water conservation’ (B2W) funding opportunity, a piece of the IRA funding package that has yet to be released. Important projects in Southwest Colorado that were unable to be funded through B2E may be able to be funded through B2W.  

Southwestern Water Conservation District was created in 1941 by the Colorado General Assembly through House Bill #795 (Statute 37-47-1010). The District is comprised of nine counties, Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, San Miguel, and parts of Hinsdale, Mineral, and Montrose. Their statutory authority is to protect, conserve, use and develop the water resources of the Southwestern basin for the welfare of the District, and safeguard for Colorado all waters of the basin to which the state is entitled.