This fall, Alamosa County was awarded funding through the Colorado Energy Office’s Local IMPACT Accelerator Program. The program, funded by the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, gives local governments grants to adopt policies that go beyond state requirements in buildings, land use, transportation, and waste.
The award supports two connected efforts. One is an update to the county’s land use code that makes renewable energy projects more achievable. The other is a field pilot that aims to study and develop BMP’s for how to revegetate retired agricultural lands transitioning to utility scale renewables. The project kicked off this fall, and will run through June 2029.
On the policy side, the county will update its land use code and 1041 regulations to accommodate mainly solar at all scales, in addition to geothermal, and possibly nuclear generation. A consultant will be hired through a competitive process to review the existing code and run community engagement through workshops, meetings, and events. The consultant will then draft a policy for the Board of County Commissioners to consider by resolution. Findings from the revegetation pilot will feed directly into that final policy language.
Recently, Secana Co. helped NextEra Energy draft the revegetation and dust mitigation plan for its 1041 permit application for the Spud Valley Energy Center. The proposed project would put up to 600 megawatts of solar and battery storage on about 2,578 acres of former cropland near Mosca and Hooper. Projects like Spud Valley are why this pilot matters. With clearly defined, locally tested best practices, developers can move through permitting with confidence, and the county can hold every project to the same standard for keeping soil in place and getting perennial cover back on the ground.
The pilot addresses a practical question facing the San Luis Valley. As irrigated circles come out of production, whether for water conservation or new uses like solar, what is the best way to re-establish stable perennial cover? A retired field doesn’t simply go back to rangeland on its own. Without a plan, these sites can produce significant weed pressure, blowing dust, and bare ground for years. The pilot will test revegetation on retired circles across several post-crop conditions, planting dates, seeding technologies, and seed treatments with the goal of producing an “if-this, then-that” playbook of best practices. It will also look at how to adaptively manage vegetation through the construction and operation of energy projects.
The Rio Grande Water Conservation District is leading the pilot project under an intergovernmental agreement with the county, and Secana Co. will manage all research and programmatic components. The trials will be monitored over two full growing cycles using a limited, measured amount of irrigation to get seedlings established. Year one focuses on site prep, seeding, and establishment. Years two and three move to adaptive management, monitoring, weed control, and spot reseeding where needed.
The purpose of this project is to develop a Best Management Practices playbook for the San Luis Valley. In addition to a comprehensive literature review, it will summarize field results and give recommendations that landowners, land managers, energy developers, and local governments can use. The goal is practical, locally tested guidance on taking formerly irrigated cropland out of production while keeping soil in place and building durable perennial cover.
Secana Co. is proud to support the San Luis Valley Revegetation Best Management Practices program alongside RGWCD and Alamosa County. Field work begins in the Spring of 2027, and we will be soliciting paid landowner participation in the new year. We’ll share updates as the sites are established and the first growing season’s data comes in.
