Submitted by rscholfield on Fri, 2015-11-13 15:48 Conservation Colorado TU Colorado - 9CO Wyoming - 9WY Utah - 9UT Outdoor Communicators Vote Up Down +17 + NRCSMT01092.jpg by Randy Scholfield Trout Unlimited is taking on the challenge of drought and water shortages in the West where it counts -- on the ground, in the stream, on the farm. Because agriculture is a major user of water in the West, TU staff have been partnering for more than a decade with farmers and ranchers on projects that upgrade irrigation systems while boosting healthy stream flows. Wait a minute -- conservationists and farmers working together? On something as contentious as water in the West? It's happening, because ag folks and TU have learned that they share common goals: stewardship of land, water and wildlife. Preserving open space and an outdoors quality of life in the West. Working together to get things done. If you want to get a glimpse of that more cooperative water future, listen to Brian Allmer's ag radio interview with TU's Cary Denison and farmer John Harold, who are part of the "No Chico Brush" group in the Gunnison River basin in western Colorado. The group involves farmers, conservation groups and others working together to make water use more sustainable--the idea is to get the water more efficiently to the plants, where it's needed, and take less out of the streams, boosting flows and habitat. "The grand vision is modernizing the (irrigation) system so that we use the amount of water that ag needs, and limit the impacts of ag on the river," said Denison in the interview. "So that when people look to water needs in the future, they're not putting such a big target on ag's back--and we're doing it in a way that can improve fisheries and habitat locally to help drive our local economy and sustain our local watershed." "By this spring, in my operation, we'll have 250-300 acres of permanent drip irrigation in place," said Harold. "I feel very strongly that, relative to water quality and water quantity, we're going to have to become more efficient in how we use our water and what we leave for others downstream." No, it hasn't always been easy--initially, there was a fair amount of suspicion and misunderstanding to work through on both sides. As Harold noted, at the first No Chico Brush meeting, with environmentalists in the same room with farmers, "I thought we may have a knife fight." Then they began talking and listening to one another. Sharing ideas. What they learned: We're all in this together on water. Randy Scholfield is TU's director of communications for the Southwest region.