Lisa Young: On today's KVNF Farm Friday, we continue our coverage of the Congressional Listening Session that took place last month in Hotchkiss. The Listening Session on Agriculture, Water, and the Federal Workforce was led by Texas Congressman Pete Sessions, Indiana Congressman Jim Baird, and Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert who represents Colorado's 3rd Congressional District.
Boebert moved to Windsor, Colorado, where she's running for the 4th Congressional District, which covers most of Colorado's Eastern Plains.
Being able to see the Western Slope and then being over on the Eastern Slope, sounds like that's really broadened your vision as far as agriculture. Tell me a little bit about that.
Lauren Boebert: Yes, so the main thing that I have noticed between Western and Eastern Colorado is there's almost more of a divide between our farmers and ranchers there than there is in Denver because of the amount of farming and ranching agriculture that is in the East. Our production here in the West is often overlooked because there are smaller farms and we don't produce as many cattle. And so we're often overlooked.
However, if the Western Slope does not get it right, if we do not manage our forests here, if we don't have water storage projects, well then that negatively impacts Eastern Colorado. If I weren't working on the Arkansas Valley Conduit as a congresswoman in the Third District, well, then we may not have been able to get that funding approved for that conduit there in Eastern Colorado and Southeast Colorado.
So it has broadened my thoughts and my perspective because we have more to do to come together as farmers and ranchers and those of us who are interested in being good stewards of our land.
And then of course, in the eastern parts of Colorado, there's a lot of private lands there. So there are private land issues. And here in the West, the majority of it is federal lands. So I definitely went toe to toe, head to head a lot more with the agencies in Western Colorado because they are typically the ones who are getting in the way of us being producers of our resources and feeding Coloradans and Americans and those around the world.
And now it's more about protecting our farmers and ranchers from the federal government encroaching on their private lands.
Young: Boebert mentioned her position on the proposed Dolores Canyon National Monument in Mesa and Montrose counties that would increase protections from roughly 30,000 acres to almost 400,000 acres along the river.
Boebert: This is something that I've been working on with Senators Bennett and Hickenlooper in a very bipartisan and bicameral way. So we do not have the federal government coming in and just designating a monument. And we can avoid that and work more locally, rather than just having a complete land grab of acreage all throughout our farming, ranching, and agricultural areas because those wilderness designations are what seem to harm us the most.
Young: Kathleen Curry, Western Slope Water Districts lobbyist and Democratic Candidate for Colorado's House District 58 spoke on the need not only to protect agricultural water but also to focus on water quality issues in rural communities.
Kathleen Curry: We all have these small communities with small populations and not a whole lot of rate payers, but we have some big bills coming up. Big infrastructure needs with compliance for water quality on both the wastewater side and the drinking water side.
And I just wanted to make sure that the folks from Congress that are here – and we're very grateful they're here – I just wanted to make sure they understood that that was, even though that's not technically ag infrastructure, these communities are the backbone of our ag industry.
Our kids go to school here, we go to the hardware store here, you know, we need the communities to succeed as well.
Young: Raquel Flinker, project manager for the Colorado River District, stressed how climate change is negatively affecting agricultural communities.
Raquel Flinker: The reduction of agriculture impacts local economies and our national food supply and food security. But it also holds great emotional weight and repercussions for these families and their neighbors. Families that have been involved and committed to ranching for four, for five generations are being forced to sell their cattle and confront uncertain futures.
Young: Flinker also talked about the problems with bureaucracy that often lead to delays in the completion of vital water projects.
Flinker: Approval authorities, such as the NRCS, largely rest within national headquarters, far from local staff. And so that leads to long delays and mainly to miscommunication as well. And so the review process to get anything approved for the NRCS takes multiple reviews, and conflicting reviews. There are projects here that participated in the Lower Gunnison Project and were directly impacted by that.
Young: Today's listening session wrapped up with a few community comments and questions.
