Photo courtesy of Dusty Hicks- An aerial picture of the Flying W Ranch shows the extent of flooding Photo by Lyndsie Ferrell- The Flying W Ranch is under about eight inches of water while the Rio Grande continues to run at unprecedented rates

DEL NORTE— The Rio Grande has been making waves (literally) over that past several weeks as water levels reached unprecedented levels that haven’t been seen in the Valley for over a decade and perhaps longer. Though the banks along the river seem to be holding, what was happening behind the scenes at one of the local ranches told an entirely different story.
Local resident and property owner Dusty Hicks contacted the Valley Publishing and offered to give a tour of his ranch, the Flying W, which is located just west of the town of Del Norte. While driving along west Highway 160, those traveling may look over and see minimal flooding from the roadway, but what was actually happening about 100 yards further north and deeper in the ranch is something that hasn’t occurred in the ranch’s history.
Hicks drove into the west side of his property at the beginning of the tour to show what was starting to happen to his fields and roadways. The entire expanse of the west side of the ranch was completely under water. “We knew we would see some flooding, but this is far more than we first anticipated. There are roads under the water that are being washed away more and more every day. I am also looking at losing some bridges and we really won’t know the extent of the damage until after the water recedes,” said Hicks.
Driving further to the north and into the main part of the ranch is was more than apparent that the land around the Rio Grande was taking the brunt of the flooding from the highwater levels. According to Hicks, the ranch is actually doing what it is designed to do, collect the massive amounts of water and slow it down before it runs inevitably into the Rio Grande Canal.
There are three different tributaries that meet on the ranch: Pinos Creek, South Pinos Creek and the Rio Grande. Out of the three, the Rio Grande is main reason the ranch is flooding. “We have about 2,000 CSF coming out of the south side of the river that has never come out before. The bank eroded about four feet because the water is trying to change how the river naturally flows.”
Hicks continued, explaining that the Rio Grande River District contacted him and asked that he continue to allow the water to flood the ranch because of the way it is slowly entering the already-full Rio Grande Canal. “They told me, Dusty if you can be okay with the way things are going right now and keep it this way until the water levels drop, you would be doing us a huge favor.”
“I don’t think we would have seen this much flooding if the reservoirs hadn’t needed to be emptied right when the runoff peaked. It has been a unique year water wise, even though this is not the first time this ranch has flooded, it is the first time since I can remember.”
Hicks plans to continue to monitor his ranch as best he can. Most of the roads have been washed away or are under about eight inches of water. The entire ranch spans about 400 acres to the northwest of Del Norte and is bordered by County Road 15 to the north and Highway 160 to the south. The head of the Rio Grande Canal sits at the top of the ranch. “All we can do is sit back and watch. The real work will begin once the water is gone.”