{"id":69154,"date":"2017-07-17T21:20:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T03:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/career-manager-of-bureau-of-reclamation-retires\/"},"modified":"2017-07-18T03:20:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T03:20:31","slug":"career-manager-of-bureau-of-reclamation-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/career-manager-of-bureau-of-reclamation-retires\/","title":{"rendered":"Career manager of Bureau of Reclamation retires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Vern
Vern Harrell, who recently retired from the Cortez Bureau of Reclamation office, stands above McPhee Reservoir, which he helped manage for 35 years, since its construction. In May, he was awarded the John Keys III award for his success building relationships with the community.<\/span>Sam Green\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Throughout the storied life cycle of McPhee Reservoir, the stoic presence of Vern Harrell of the Bureau of Reclamation has been there, watching over the lifeblood of the Southwest Colorado agricultural community.<\/p>\n

He started on the construction team of the reservoir in 1982 and saw the first loads of clay placed into the dam. He was a witness as the cool water of the Dolores River filled the reservoir.<\/p>\n

During his 35 years with the agency\u2019s Cortez office, he wrote and oversaw water contracts for hydropower, water companies, the Ute Mountain Tribe Farm and Ranch, and the canals and pump stations that redirect the water to nearly 63,000 acres of commercial farm land in Montezuma and Dolores counties.<\/p>\n

For decades, he kept an eye on snowpack and runoff that feed the lake, and ensured that reservoir water contract obligations were met. He respected the balance dividing the 380,000 acre-foot reservoir between agriculture, municipal, the downstream native fishery and recreational boaters.<\/p>\n

In all, the career government man was relied on to get the job done, and now at 58, he\u2019s heading into the sunset, downshifting to spend time with his wife, family, herd of cattle and apple orchard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty rare for a Reclamation employee to work on one project for an entire career, so it has been a real blessing,\u201d he said as he cleaned out his office on Cactus Street in Cortez.<\/p>\n

As a federal administrator for the $800 million Dolores Project, he was a liaison between Reclamation and the Dolores Water Conservancy District, which was transferred the management of the reservoir infrastructure, but ownership stays with the U.S.<\/p>\n

He said besides the accomplishments of the project\u2019s construction, his proudest achievements are the partnerships forged between various users: the farmers, Montezuma Valley Irrigation Co., boaters, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, San Juan National Forest and environmental interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we work to bring people together with different viewpoints, and that we are able to talk rationally about difficult issues, stands out for me,\u201d he said. \u201cTwenty years ago, it was more of a food fight, and nothing got accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrell endured heavy pressure, misdirected anger from the boating community, which was convinced that dam managers were arbitrarily releasing water or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dam was a big change, and as they came to understand the project and its legal water obligations that must be met, then we could talk,\u201d he said. \u201cI see the downstream fishery and boating as just as important as the agriculture, and all of that is laid out in the project requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, boating groups and environmentalists work closely with reservoir managers when there is a spill, he said, and the releases are more catered toward boating and ecological needs.<\/p>\n

Seeing the Ute Mountain Farm and Ranch flourish was also a highlight of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the tribe and what they were able to do with their project water. It\u2019s a state-of-the-art farm that takes a back seat to no one. It makes a profit, and employees a lot of tribal members.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the misconceptions by boaters and farmers about the Dolores Project still linger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would not have been a dam and reservoir without the negotiations to have water for the downstream fishery and managed, recreational whitewater releases. On the other hand, the purpose is to store water if we can store it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Going forward, Harrell said the reservoir infrastructure is in good shape. Twenty-five-year-old pumping stations have been replaced or upgraded in the past several years.<\/p>\n

New computer systems control water delivery, powerlines have been replaced, and every aspect of the system is monitored and inspected.<\/p>\n

The next captain of the Reclamation office will face some new challenges. Harrell said the clay lined canals are beginning to leak and will require upgrades. The concrete spillway of the dam needs repair because of weathering and freeze-thaw impacts.<\/p>\n

He credits DWCD for its proactive budgeting and maintenance of project infrastructure for the reservoir\u2019s success and longevity into the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system is in excellent condition. These guys are on top of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is going to be hard to let go, I\u2019ll miss working with the people. I grew up with a lot of these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Harrell was awarded the Bureau of Reclamations John Keys III award for his success building relationships in the community.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harrell had 35-year career with Bureau of Reclamation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,21,44,738,280,29,2760,2088,295],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-69154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-cortez","tag-dolores","tag-environmental-issue","tag-mcphee-reservoir","tag-newsletter","tag-retirement","tag-u-s-bureau-of-reclamation","tag-water"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69154"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=69154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}