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Festival attendees explore Reeder Lake.

Area 5^th Graders had a unique opportunity to explore some very distinctive water features of Baca County, May 5^th and 6^th during a Playa Lakes Festival. Fifty-six students and a dozen teachers from Kim, Pritchett, Springfield, Campo and Vilas participated in the Festival sponsored by the Ogallala Commons, Playa Lakes Joint Venture and Baca County Conservation District (BCCD).

  Monday morning was spent at the Campo Community Center learning all about the water cycle and the role playas play. Festival Coordinator Darryl Birkenfeld described these dry lakebeds as very shallow, dynamic water features that only have water in them periodically, after a large precipitation event. Their seedbed contains 350 native plant species, more than 30 species of migrating and wintering birds depend on them, as well as local wildlife.

  Monday afternoon everyone loaded on busses and the caravan headed west of Campo to the largest playa in Baca County:  Reeder Lake, just north of Kirkwell. As attendees explored the playa, Birkenfeld identified its features, as well as the various plants students collected.  Storm Casper (BCCD) explained when this playa is full it can hold 25 million gallons of water.

  Day two of the festival began with classroom education on local watersheds and aquifers by Birkenfeld and Storm Casper. The highlight of the day was hiking to Dripping Spring, southwest of Campo. Local rancher Joe Dixon detailed the area’s history on the trek. Students also saw Indian stair cases and teepee rings along the trail. The final event for the Festival was touring Springfield’s waste water treatment plant. Students left with a better understanding of how critical water conservation is, as our aquifer continues to decline.

   Eastern Colorado agriculture producers have been awarded funds to install wind turbines for on-farm use in the Eastern Plains of Colorado. This grant funding is being used as a pilot project to demonstrate the applicability of small wind for agricultural uses. The cost share dollars were awarded by Southeast Colorado RC&D, as the administrator of an Advancing Colorado’s Renewable Energy (ACRE) implementation grant from the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

  Five turbines funded from this project will be installed throughout Eastern Colorado in Arapahoe, Baca, Kit Carson, Phillips, and Weld Counties. Power will be generated at one farmstead using a 1.8kW tower; two farmsteads, including out buildings, using 10kW and 20kW towers; a poultry operation using a 1.8kW tower; and a sprinkler irrigation system using a 50kW tower.

  The project partners include Southeast Colorado RC&D, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, iCAST (International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology), and Baca County Conservation District. An informational tour to showcase the wind turbines and farm operations is planned after the turbines have been installed and commissioned.