Of course, the UAWCD is much more than an irrigation district, and protecting and conserving water for the long-term stability of the region is the driving mission of the organization. Founded in 1979, the district’s mission is, “for protecting and securing water in the Upper Arkansas Valley. That same mission endures today for the protection of all water rights, including municipal, agricultural, environmental, industrial, and recreational.” The district encompasses the majority of the three counties of Chaffee, Fremont, and Custer Counties, as well as small watersheds in Saguache and El Paso Counties.
The UAWCD has experienced some notable leadership changes since the start of the year. The first was that former Chaffee County Commissioner Gregory Felt was appointed as the district’s general manager last July and took the reins of the organization on January 1. It would be an understatement to say that he has a big role to play as he replaces longtime manager and rancher Ralph “Terry” Scanga.
Felt is only the third General Manager to lead the district since its inception in 1979, but he is no stranger to the water conservation district. Felt has served for the past 18 years as a member of the board of directors, which comprises 13 members. He moved to Chaffee County in 1985 to work as a guide on the Arkansas River and earned a degree from Yale when he was not summering on the river.
Recognizing the value of the river from a recreational standpoint, he and his wife, Susan, took the plunge into risk-taking entrepreneurship with the founding of a rafting company and as co-founder ArkAnglers. Clearly, the many hours pondering the waters led him naturally to want to understand how the river was managed.
What few people in the region realized is that the most significant risk to the water that flows through the Arkansas River is not drought, but the thirsty cities and farms downstream of the district and along the Front Range of Colorado. Water law in Colorado is highly complex, but growing cities and dry, flood-irrigated farms are always seeking ways to purchase water in the region and “dry out” the ranch that holds the water rights, allowing the water to be diverted to areas hundreds of miles away.
And it was this “drying-out” process of a ranch in 2014 that spurred Coaldale resident Kristi Nackord to become involved in local water issues and ultimately for joining the district board in June. Nackord has been a force for land and water conservation for the past several decades. She has most recently been working as a consultant for the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District and has also been a consultant for the Upper Arkansas District in the past.
In 2014, Nackord founded the Coaldale Alliance when water on the 200-acre CB Ranch located in Western Fremont was purchased by the Security Water District just south of Colorado Springs to be piped out of the Pueblo Reservoir. Ultimately, the ranch was protected by a stewardship covenant to make sure that the ranch was properly revegetated after the water was taken from the fields.
She has worked in Westcliffe as well as part of the San Isabel Conservation District, and she joins former San Isabel Conservation District Director Ben Lenth, who was appointed to the board in 2024.
For more information about the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, visit www.uawcd.com.
Jordan Hedberg
