OCR Text |
Show A brief description of each of the authorized participating projects and the present status of its construction or investigations follow: 1. COLORADO a. Paonia Project Paonia Dam was completed in January 1962 and was dedicated on September 29, 1962 - the first participating project of the Colorado River Storage Project to be completed. Responsibility for operating and maintaining the dam was transferred to the North Fork Conservancy District on June 1, 1962. Recreation facilities have been constructed and are in use. The project is located near Paonia and Hotchkiss in west-central Colorado on the North Fork of Gunnison River. Water stored in the 21,000-acre-foot capacity Paonia Reservoir is distributed to project lands through the enlarged and extended Fire Mountain Canal. Irrigation water supply is supplemented for 13,070 acres of land previously irrigated and a full water supply provided for about 2,230 acres of new land. Fish and wildlife values in the area will be enhanced, and flood damages will be decreased. b. Smith Fork The Smith Fork Project was completed in the fall of 1962 and is now furnishing irrigation water to project lands. The project was dedicated by Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Stewart L. Udall, on April 20, 1963, in a ceremony held at Crawford Dam. The project was transferred to the Crawford Water Conservancy District for operation and maintenance on January 1, 1964. Smith Fork Project is located in Delta County, along the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River. The principal features include Crawford Dam and Reservoir, Smith Fork Diversion Dam, Smith Fork Feeder Canal, and the Aspen Canal. The Crawford Reservoir, capacity of 13,650 acre-feet, has been constructed on Iron Creek, a tributary of Smith Fork. The reservoir regulates the flow of Iron Creek and surplus flows of the Smith Fork that are conveyed to it by the Smith Fork Feeder Canal. Small quantities of reservoir storage water are released to Iron Creek and diverted by several small existing ditches. The remainder is released to the new Aspen Canal and conveyed by this canal to existing ditches for distribution. Some of the storage water releases through the Aspen Canal replace present direct flow diversions from Smith Fork, thus permitting additional direct flow diversions to be made higher on the 83 |