By Deon J. Hampton -
NBC News
TOWAOC, Colo. — The trade and livelihood of a small tribe in the high desert of southern Colorado are threatened by a drought in the West, which has caused the water level in a reservoir used to irrigate farmland to rise. crop is dangerously low.
The 7,700-acre Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Farm & Ranch Enterprise has produced alfalfa and corn for four decades, and irrigation for those crops comes from melting snow that flows from the surrounding San Juan Mountains.
But higher temperatures and less runoff reaching McPhee Reservoir have caused a slowdown in production over the past two years, costing the farm $4 million to $6 million last year.
The losses combined with the pandemic caused the company to lay off more than half of its 50-employee workforce.
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The remaining 20 employees, who earn between $15 and $25 an hour, are members of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, which is part of the Weeminuche group of the Ute Nation.
Many see their employment as a contribution to indigenous society and are proud that the fruits of their labor become items sold in grocery stores.
Since the tribe derives most of its income from the Ute Mountain Casino Hotel, members said the importance of the farm goes beyond dollars and cents.
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"It means we have something of our own. It provides jobs for some people here and that means a lot to a lot of people," said Kolton Begay, 22, who has worked on the farm for six years.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is among dozens of indigenous peoples across the Southwest facing the region's driest two decades on record in at least 1,200 years.
The Navajo Nation, which has the largest American reservation with more than 25,000 square miles in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, uses about 2 million gallons of water every day to feed livestock, but more is needed, he said. the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources in a 2021 report.
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The director of the department, Jason John, said that 10 million dollars would be needed to address the problems caused by the drought.
"Throughout the arid Southwest, and especially on the Navajo Nation, reliable water supplies are essential to initiate and sustain economic development," officials said on the department's website.
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The 2,100-member Ute Mountain Ute tribe has inhabited today's Four Corners region, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet, for 10,000 years, their leaders said.
When they were nomadic, the tribe hunted large animals and gathered herbs and fruits for food.
People moved with the seasons, following herds of wild animals to feed their families, tribal president Manuel Heart said.
"We roam these mountains like we own them. We are the mountain people. We take care of these mountains according to the seasons," he said.
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Federal laws setting reservation boundaries eventually pushed the Ute all the way to the southwestern tip of Colorado.
Its 60,000-acre preserve, located at the base of Sleeping Ute Mountain, offers sweeping views of the desolate terrain that stretches into Utah and New Mexico.
With sales falling, Ute farmers have turned to grinding corn for whiskey distilleries.
The tribe also packages cornmeal for use as an ingredient in pancake, cornbread and tortilla mixes sold in stores throughout the Southwest, agriculture officials said.
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Tribal leaders could not provide an exact figure for how much the milling and corn flour operations generate, but said it was not enough to offset losses from the drought.
Farming remains viable with the help of state and federal grants that cover labor costs and other bills, said general manager Simón Martínez, who estimates the farm will receive more than $2 million in grants this year.
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"If we weren't getting grants, it would be catastrophic," Martinez said.
As the drought progresses, some leaders said they may be forced to sell their livestock, including 600 Black Angus cross cows that graze far from the farm and are often sold to slaughterhouses.
But Heart said he doesn't think the farm will have to close or sell assets.
He said the tribe has high-level water rights to a lake near Durango, Colorado, and to the San Juan River in New Mexico, stemming from a 1968 treaty with the US Department of the Interior.
Kolton Begay, a farm worker in Colorado. Cate Dingley for NBC News
But pumping the water or creating a pipeline from those locations to the farm could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, so it may not be feasible, farm officials said.
Last year, the Ute farm received 2,622 acre-feet of water, a little more than 10% of the 24,517 acre-feet it normally receives, said Ken Curtis, general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District, which distributes the water. from McPhee Reservoir.
One acre-foot can supply two families of four with water for one year.
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"It's very hard to live like this, that's why they're fighting," Curtis said of the Ute tribe.
Martinez said he remains optimistic about the farm's long-term prospects and would likely change the structure of the business to focus on growing and selling hay and sunflowers for oil production before taking drastic action.
"We have to try to stay afloat until Mother Nature decides to go back to the weather patterns that we were used to in years past," Martinez said.
And then he added, "Is that going to happen? I don't know."