(An editor’s note from Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District General Manager Sonja Chavez: The water district is partnering with the Gunnison Country Times to provide ongoing regular water articles. As we work throughout the basin, the one message our staff repeatedly hears is that our neighbors are hungry for more water information and education. Our hope is that with these articles we can highlight the many ways in which it touches our lives, and keep you up to speed on the rapidly changing landscape that is water. We encourage you to write to us at info@ugrwcd.org and let us know if there are topics you’d like us to cover. Thank you for reading and being good stewards of our basin!)
“I was standing there looking at a trickle running down a very large ditch thinking, ‘Man, it’s going to be hard to irrigate with that,’” said Jesse Kruthaupt of Trout Unlimited. “It was the summer of 2012, and I was visiting with a ranch manager about options to improve his irrigation system and water delivery, while also improving flows in Ohio Creek. As many remember, the snowpack that winter was pretty lean, and by the middle of June, there wasn’t much water left in many streams or ditches in western Colorado.”
It is situations like the one above that are at the core of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District’s grant program. Since 2009, the program has provided funds to address many of the issues facing basin water users, including drought resiliency.
The district’s board of directors initiated the program in 2009 with a budget of $100,000. That year, only two grant applications were awarded for a total of $45,000. Since it was brand new and many of our constituents didn’t have a good grasp of what the program was all about, we were pretty excited to see the two applications then and happy to fund a pond lining project and ditch rehabilitation project.
Since then, thanks to the success of many projects we have funded, the great outreach efforts of Jesse Kruthaupt and other consultants and the district’s education efforts, triple the amount of funding is available. The grant program continues to be hugely supportive of a variety of water projects. I am pleased to see that a number of projects have been dipping into available technology to achieve the best possible results and better water management.
The number of applications and the requested funding amounts have grown steadily over the past 15 years. In 2025, we received 14 applications with a whopping $470,420 in requests, and $1.94 million in total project costs (applicants are required to contribute matching funds).
Over the years, the grant program has funded the development of a watershed management plan at the Coldharbour Institute; numerous ditch headgate and diversion replacements; xeriscaping at the new Gunnison County Library; engineering for a new water system at the Wupperman Campground in Lake City; a harmful algal bloom study in Blue Mesa Reservoir; a virtual fence project through the Gunnison Conservation District; and a project to improve the municipal outdoor irrigation system in Crested Butte, to name but a few.
The water district works closely with potential applicants to ensure that all of the I’s are dotted and the T’s crossed before their applications are submitted. As part of the program, we also provide engineering services to make sure the projects are well-designed and cost estimates are realistic. Even though we can still encounter hiccups along the way, such as trying to find a contractor or materials — which was definitely an issue during the pandemic — the district has been flexible enough to help applicants work through any issues and complete their projects with the least amount of delay.
Over the past 15 years, the district has awarded $2.4 million for projects throughout the basin, and leveraged $12.1 million in matching funds. Through the grant program, the Upper Gunnison has leveraged support from sources outside the basin, resulting in long-standing, well-respected partnerships with agencies and organizations around the state. This includes the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, Trout Unlimited, Natural Resource Conservation Service and a host of others.
It has also created many valuable personal relationships between district staff, consultants, engineers and the applicants. In these uncertain times, when federal funding and support is questionable, the Upper Gunnison’s grant program is bound to continue to grow in popularity and importance to the basin.
Since these grant projects have a multi-beneficial trickle-down effect, pun intended, we look forward to seeing the program flourish for the betterment of our entire water user community.
(Beverly Richards is the grant program manager at the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District.)
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