The San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) Board of Directors continued discussion of various aspects of the maintenance of Running Iron Ranch at its July 20 meeting, including fencing maintenance and leasing of nearby national forest land.
SJWCD board member Charles Riehm summarized previous discussions of the topic to the board, including a tour of the ranch he previously took with Steve Laverty, who owns an adjoining ranch and has indicated a potential interest in running cattle on the property, and discussions with U.S. Forest Service (USFS) San Juan District Ranger Josh Peck, who indicated that the USFS will not be leasing the national forest property that adjoins the ranch for cattle grazing in 2026 and likely will not lease it in 2027 to allow time for vegetation recovery.
Riehm noted that, from his conversation with Peck, he recognized that, if the same individual leased the Running Iron Ranch and the adjacent national forest land to graze cattle, the SJWCD would not need to fix the fences between these properties, changing the fencing costs.
Riehm also covered a conversation he had with Park Ditch Company representative Bob Formwalt about potentially using sheets of aluminum wreckage left behind on the Running Iron Ranch from a semi truck crash on Wolf Creek Pass to create protective covers for water diversion gates to prevent people from falling into them.
Riehm added that Formwalt is also potentially interested in collecting some or all of the iron objects currently residing on the ranch and hauling them off for him to sell or use in personal projects, which would save the district the cost of having to pay to remove them.
Riehm commented that this discussion raised larger questions about how the district wants to handle deals with private individuals to obtain items from the ranch or perform maintenance on it.
“Well, it’s not actually our property, it’s public property,” said SJWCD board member Rob Hagberg. “We can’t just give stuff away.”
SJWCD board member John Kappelman commented that the district needs to discard items from the property through an open, public process if it decides to do so.
SJWCD board member Candace Jones noted that it would likely be a “good deal” if the district can reach an agreement with someone to remove items like barn siding at no cost to the district.
However, she added that the district should avoid doing these deals in a way that appears preferential to specific individuals.
In response to a question from Riehm about how to do this, SJWCD board president Randy Cooper stated that he would prefer to not develop a process at this time and focus on effectively managing the ranch.
Riehm then raised the issue of how the district wants to approach tearing down buildings on the ranch, noting that this is unlikely to occur in the next couple years, but that the district will likely have to do it eventually and will have to determine a bidding process that will reduce costs to the district and allow the contractor to obtain whatever benefit they can from tearing down the buildings.
“Yeah, that’s in the future,” Cooper said. “We really have to address it. We’re not going to address it right now.”
Riehm and Hagberg noted their support for allowing the Park Ditch Company to use the aluminum wreckage to make safety improvements to the ditch since this would be using resources the district controls to benefit the overall ditch users.
Riehm also mentioned that he discussed weed control on the property with Archuleta County Weed and Pest Supervisor Ethan Proud, and he indicated that he could potentially do treatment of weeds in August or September, although he is booked currently.
Cooper commented that weed control needs to be the district’s No. 1 priority on the property, especially given the concerns of the Park Ditch Company about the issue.
Riehm stated that he would continue to work on the situation and keep the board updated.
Strategic objectives
Also at the July 20 meeting, the SJWCD approved updated strategic objectives for 2026 and 2027.
The objectives, which the board unanimously approved, include:
• Implementing the settlement of the litigation between the SJWCD, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board over the management and future of the Running Iron Ranch.
• Moving forward with a water demand study and identifying funding sources for the proposed reservoir at Running Iron Ranch.
• Engaging with the community through involvement in ongoing water-related planning efforts in Archuleta County and the overall region.
josh@pagosasun.com
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