Buckhorn Geotech Engineering Report
Mancos Water Conservancy District
The Mancos Water Conservancy District is asking for your support of the Jackson Gulch
Rehabilitation Act of 2009.

The Bureau of Reclamation was formed in 1905 to build safe water storage and delivery systems in
the vast and mostly rural West, enabling previously unfarmed land to develop into one of the world’s
largest producers of crops.  The water projects have been operated and maintained by the local water
districts either directly, financially, or both.  

Unfortunately, due to their age, a large number of these projects are in need of major structural
overhauls.  The necessary work, whether it be rehabilitation or replacement, will require large capital
outlays which most local, rural districts cannot afford, due simply to the small but dependent
population base.  As a tributary to the Colorado River system, funding for the Jackson Gulch
Rehabilitation Project will help secure water not only for the residents and agricultural families of the
Mancos Valley, but also to other users downstream throughout the West.

Also consider that today these water projects are more than just an irrigation supply; In addition to
providing water to arid lands, they have become integral to sustaining new ecosystems and habitats
critical to the survival of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The environmental ecosystems created by
water projects have provided habitat for many species including some on the endangered list. With
today’s climate change there may be no greater necessity than for these projects.  The health of the
Mancos River Corridor and subsequent downstream river corridors is highly dependent on Jackson
Gulch Reservoir.

The Mancos Water Conservancy District is leveraging as much financial support as possible to
implement the necessary rehabilitation work.  However, we simply cannot go it alone.  Federal support
for this project is as necessary now as it was in 1941 when the Bureau of Reclamation acted on its
vision of supplying water to areas of the rural West. Your support will further protect and promote
our forefather’s vision for the vast western lands and continue to supply the needed water storage for
sustaining the communities that depend upon it today and tomorrow.

We thank you for your attention to this very important matter.