NRD approves retirement of irrigated acres

    Irrigation will be permanently retired on 3,504 acres in the Upper Republican Natural Resources District through a joint NRD/state-funded retirement program.
    The board officially accepted  bids on 14 tracts during their September meeting. The size of the tracts range from 59 acres to 601 acres.
    The per-acre bids submitted by landowners ranged from a low of $2,300 per acre to a high of $3,401.06 per acre. The total retirement cost will be $10,098,020.
    The average cost per retired acre came in at $2,881.86. Based on current land values, NRD Assistant Manager Nate Jenkins said that fairly represents the difference in value between irrigated land versus dryland.
    The NRD received a $6 million 60/40 matching grant from the Department of Natural Resources’ Water Resources Cash Fund to fund the effort.
     The NRD will use $4 million in funds built up through a special 3.5-cent levy approved by the Legislature for compact compliance purposes only.
    That levy sunset two years ago.
    The retirement will generate an annual savings of 2,120 acre feet for the district, which will be allocated toward compact compliance. (An acre foot of water covers one acre with 12” of water.)
    Jenkins said irrigated land in what was previously referred to as the Quick Response Area (QRA) was targeted for retirement because of its immediate impact on streamflow.

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