Signs of an early spring abound in the backyard. Blades of green grass, buds on flower stems, the winds. There’s a growing worry among irrigators about a below-normal spring runoff.
The gauge height for the Rio Grande at Del Norte is 48 percent of normal heading into the week and the Upper San Juan is measuring 18 inches of snow water equivalent. March is typically a snowy month and so we’ll hope for the best. Here’s more as we head into Monte Vista Crane Fest week.
1. The Valley’s Mr. Potato
Bob Mattive was at the table explaining the federal Farm Bill to 3rd Congressional District candidate Jeff Hurd when he let the candidate know that if he makes it to Congress to represent the San Luis Valley and the 3rd CD, Mattive would see him there. Mattive is accustomed to briefing members of Congress as part of the executive committee and board member with the influential National Potato Council. He’s now been appointed president of the organization and his influence in advocating for federal policy that benefits the U.S. potato industry shoots to another level. Mattive is a partner in Worley Family Farms, LLC in Monte Vista.
2. Presidential Primary Week
It’s too late to mail in your March 5 presidential ballot so make sure to drop it off at your county elections drop-off box. Colorado’s presidential primary week also leads into the various county caucuses and county assemblies. Here’s a list of county caucus and assembly meeting dates and locations to help you participate. As part of our 2024 election efforts we’ve also developed a Spanish-language podcast, Voto SLV, which is geared to inform and educate voters whose primary or preferred language is Spanish. The March presidential primary and county caucuses and assemblies are the first act in a three-part staging of 2024 elections in Colorado. Next comes the June 25 party primary election, followed by the fall general election on Nov. 5. Tune in when it matters.
3. Rio Grande County moves to eliminate ‘dry camping’
Rio Grande County has published a final draft of updates to its land development code that will change what’s allowed and prohibited when it comes to campgrounds and RV parks in the county. You can find the proposed updates here. Among the campgrounds permitted would be “primitive and semi-primitive” campgrounds that are “generally accessible only by walk-in, pack-in, or equestrian,” with no amenities or services available – except on private property within unincorporated Rio Grande County, hence eliminating what is known as “dry camping” on private lands. At least one landowner has been challenging Rio Grande County on how it’s gone about the work. “We find the entire body of work related to RV parks and campground regulations objectionable, from removing the ‘Allowed by Right’ land uses for the few zone districts where they are currently allowed, to the new arbitrarily and cost-prohibitive requirements for the land uses,” Jonas Rieter, Jr. tells us via email. “It is our position the drafted land use regulations should be scrapped altogether. The county should start over entirely from scratch, if at all, for several reasons.” The county commissioners are expected to take up the proposed updates in March and April.
4. Del Norte and Colorado Supreme Court
The town of Del Norte is deciding whether to appeal a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling that it violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law by censuring Town Trustee Laura Anzalone back in 2021. The town board met in executive session last week to hear its legal options and has a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday to let the community know if it will take the case to the Colorado Supreme Court. Stay tuned.
5. Legislation to support veterinary technicians
State Sen. Cleave Simpson of Alamosa is touting passage of the “Veterinary Technician Scope of Practice” legislation that has cleared both the Colorado House and Senate and is headed to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature. Simpson was a primary sponsor of HB24-1047, which directs the state board of veterinary medicine to establish rules that grow the tasks veterinary technicians and veterinary technician specialists can do within the scope of veterinary medicine. The bill is intended to help veterinarians with the amount of work they can delegate to technicians and advance the care of animals.
6. Two web pages to review
The Alamosa School District, through its consultants RTA Architects, has a web page up that will help you learn more about its facilities master plan and the need for more than $30 million worth of maintenance and capital construction projects.
Similarly, Alamosa County government, through its consultants, has stitched together a web page, imaginealamosa.com, to help it explain its comprehensive planning process that will yield the county government a blueprint on how to accommodate and manage any growth in the coming years to unincorporated Alamosa County.
Watch for both the school district and Alamosa County plans to evolve over the coming months.
7. Faces of the Valley
You see Jason Medina showing up in communities around the San Luis Valley as executive director of the Community Foundation of the San Luis Valley. Helping others is in his DNA. Photographer and writer Randy Brown caught up with him for this Faces of the Valley feature. We’d like to hear your suggestions on future Faces of the Valley features. Send us a note at info@alamosacitizen.com.
8. From The Sports Page
Adams State’s Harmanie Dominguez is doing something special on the basketball court and is pulling her teammates along. Over the weekend Dominguez became only the second player in Adams State women’s basketball history to score more than 500 points in a single season (Vera Jo Bustos was the first). The Grizzlies, meanwhile, captured a share of the RMAC regular season title, finishing with an 18-4 conference record after a win over Metro State. Dominguez, who hails from Las Cruces, N.M., will lead Adams State into RMAC tournament play on Tuesday when Black Hill State comes into Plachy Hall for a 6 p.m. opening-round game.
On the collegiate mat, Adams State’s Aaden Valdez is headed to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships after winning the 165 pound RMAC title over the weekend. Valdez will be joined by teammates Isaiah Gomez, who qualified at 125 pounds after finishing second in the RMAC tourney, and Angel Flores, who qualified at 141 pounds after a third-place RMAC finish.
Sierra Grande and Sanford High are sending their boys basketball teams to the Colorado High School State Basketball Championships this weekend in Denver. Both won their regional tournaments, Sierra Grande in Class 1A and Sanford in Class 2A, to advance to the state playoffs.