A recently announced award of $25.6 million to the Southwestern Water Conservation District to mitigate the effects of drought has been put into doubt by an executive order from the Trump administration. The award from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was announced Jan. 17. It came as the result of a partnership of numerous local stakeholders that was created in 2023 to make it easier to submit one large unified grant application for different projects. The money was to come from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and was to fund 17 projects across Southwest Colorado.
The water conservation district said in a release that the projects are to address the ongoing drought crisis through such efforts as stabilizing stream banks, removing invasive plants, creating fish passages, and restoring wetlands. The proposal was supported by 37 different federal, state, tribal, and local entities. The release said the project proponents include the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership, Webber Ditch Company, Tres Rios Field Office of Bureau of Land Management, San Juan National Forest Service, RiversEdge West, Mountain Studies Institute, Mancos Conservation District, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the Animas Watershed Partnership.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Montezuma County commission, Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer said some projects are in the Mancos and Dolores areas, some on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. Koppenhafer is a director on the Southwestern Water Conservation District board. He said, “It’s going to be good for the whole area, economically.” However, on Monday President Trump issued an executive order requiring all agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In a clarification Tuesday, the administration said the pause only applies to funds that support projects that run contrary to the new administration’s pro-drilling, pro-mining, anti-regulatory stance – which would seem to indicate the local monies will eventually be disbursed. Koppenhafer told the commission on Tuesday the matter is unclear. He said, “We’ll see what happens.”