DEVELOPMENT OF LAND FALLOWING- WATER LEASING IN THE LOWER ARKANSAS VALLEY (2002 through mid-2011) Sugar City (2011) JUNE 30, 2011 La Junta (2011) REPORT FOR THE COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD Formerly irrigated land below Colorado Canal (2011) Peter D. Nichols 1120 Lincoln Street • Suite 1600 Denver, Colorado 80203-2141 303-861-1963
[email protected] Currently irrigated land on the Ft. Lyon Canal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people contributed to the formation of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, and subsequent incorporation of the Lower Arkansas Valley Super Ditch Company, Inc. These included Leroy Mauch (Prowers County Commissioner), Lynden Gill (Bent County Commissioner), John Singletary, Loretta Kennedy (Pueblo County Commissioner), Ollie Ridley, Bill Long (Bent County Commissioner), Bob Bauserman, Kevin Karney and Jake Klein (Otero County Commissioners), John Rose, and H. Barton Mendenhall, as well as current and former board members and staff of the District Pete Moore (current Chair), Melissa Esquibel (Secretary), Wayne Whittaker (Treasurer), Anthony Nunez (Director), Reeves Brown (Director), and Jay Winner (General Manager) and current and former Board members of the Company, John Schweizer (President), Dale Mauch (Vice‐ President), Burt Heckman (Secretary), Frank Melinski (Treasurer), Mike Barolo, Donny Hansen, Joel Lundquist, Lee Schweizer and Ray Smith. Many also contributed to the preparation of this report. Veronique Van Gheem, Esq., initially drafted Parts 2, 3 and 4 while a law student at CU, and graciously assisted in revisions after graduation. Anthony van Westrum, Esq., Anthony van Westrum, LLC; Denis Clanahan, Esq., Clanahan, Beck & Bean; and, Tom McMahon, Esq., Jones & Keller drafted the sections on the corporate organization, taxation, and antitrust issues respectively.