Fighting for our Greenlee County Livestock Show and Auction

These are truly challenging times we are living in. Trying to continue the traditions that hold our community together while remaining safe has been particularly difficult this year. I would like to express my appreciation to the various leaders from the youth organizations that came up with a plan to safely hold the annual youth livestock show and sale for both large and small animals. The show and sale are traditionally held in conjunction with the county fair but with conditions as they are, we will not be able to host our traditional county fair this year. However, thanks in large part to these dedicated leaders, and their creativity and cooperative spirit, we will be able to continue our strong tradition of supporting Greenlee County kids who are learning important life lessons through these livestock projects. Extensive plans have already been made to allow each youth who has put the time and effort into raising animals to be able to show their animal projects and to participate in the livestock sale. The sale will be a hybrid of both limited in person bidding as well as online bidding. We will be getting more information out soon so that the sale can be as successful as possible.

My Resume

Richard G. Lunt

E-mail: richardglunt@gmail.com

Education

                Master’s Degree in Educational Administration 

                       Northern Arizona University 1991

                Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science 

                       University of Arizona 1979

                Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Education

                       University of Arizona 1979

Occupational Experience

                Greenlee County Supervisor 2017-present
                Freeport McMoran, Repairman 2013-2016

                Greenlee County Supervisor 2005-2012

                Lunt’s Dairy, owner/herdsman 1979-2004

National Leadership Experience             

                United States Forest Service
                        Resource Advisory Council Member - 6 years

                Bureau of Land Management
                        Resource Advisory Council Member - 7 years

                National Association of Counties Organization 

                        Public Lands Steering Committee Member - 10 years
                        Western Interstate Region Board Member - 1 year

                National Livestock and Meat Board
                        Board Member - 4 years

                National Cattleman’s Beef Association
                        Board Member - 9 years

                National Cattleman’s Beef Association 

                        National Youth Task Force Member - 2 years

               

State Leadership Experience 

                County Supervisors Association
                       Member - 12 years, 1st Vice President - 1 year

                County Supervisors Association

                        Legislative Policy Committee - 12 years

                Arizona Association of County Officials

                        Board Member - 8 years

                Arizona Electric Power Cooperative

                        Board Member - 14 years, President-3 years

                Sierra Southwest Cooperative

                        Board Member - 4 years, President-3 years

                Southwest Transmission Cooperative
                        Board Member - 2 years

                Arizona Department of Agriculture 

                        Board Member - 5 years, Chairman- 1 year

                Arizona Beef Council
                        Board Member 16 years, Chairman - 3 years

Community Leadership Experience 

                Duncan Valley Electric Cooperative

                       Board Member - 25 years, Vice President- 3 years

                Boy Scouts of America, 

                       Scoutmaster - 26 years

                Little League Umpire - 20 years

                Greenlee County Extension Board

                        Board Member - 9 years

                Greenlee County Junior Livestock Association 

                        Board Member - 5 years
                P.R.I.D.E. Society - 16 years

Western Interstate Regional Meeting of the Public Lands Committee

Once again, Greenlee County has a voice at the national level. By representing Greenlee County and the State of Arizona on the Western Interstate Region of the National Association of Counties, I am able to influence decisions of the United States Department of Interior, the United States Forest Service, and the Western Governors Association. At our meeting this week, we discussed the fires in the West, land management issues, and how the decisions of these organizations affect our choices at the county level.

Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Council

Greenlee County now has a voice on the Arizona Resource Advisory Council of the Bureau of Land Management. I was appointed by the United States Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, as one of the representatives on this council. The Council provides advice to Bureau of Land Management's Arizona State Director regarding the management of public land resources within its jurisdiction. I am honored to be chosen to serve.

"Water - What's Right? What's Wrong"

Water – What’s Right? What’s Wrong?

Published in the Eastern Arizona Courier on August 8, 2018

By Richard Lunt

William Jennings Bryan once wrote:  “Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.”

The Lunts, descendents of Henry Lunt, came to this Duncan valley in 1916.  They bought a 40 acre farm and split it between two brothers, Broughton and Heaton Lunt.  The valley was soon settled with farmers up and down the river.  

In 1920 the Federal Government decided to declare who had first priority to the water of the Gila River System.  Surveys were made on all the land that was being farmed.  The land under homes, barns, ponds, and canals was not included in the survey, only land that was actually being farmed.  It was rumored that the farmers were going to have to pay for the decreed land, so if there was a spot in the field that was full of Johnson grass, or was a storage spot for equipment, etc., these spots were not included in the survey.  This explains why there is un-decreed land in the middle of a field used today.  These surveys were done with chains and the survey equipment of the time.  This 1920 survey is now what makes up what we call “decreed” acres.  This determines what land a farmer gets to water. 

In 1935 the Globe Equity Decree used the survey from 1920 to limit the river water usage of farmers to 6 acre feet of water per acre annually for decreed land.  This 1935 law also allowed farmers to transfer the decreed water from one piece of property to another.  This transfer of decree is still allowed, but can only happen with an order from the court, which is very costly. We need to be able to transfer decreed land from one property to another without great cost to the farmer.  This way he could move the decree on his land to the parts of his fields that are the most farmable.

After 1935 it was discovered that 6 acre feet of water per acre was sometimes enough to sustain a crop and sometimes it wasn’t, depending upon whether there was water in the river, because there were few or no pumps.  So the farmers went to the state and received permits to drill wells to supplement the water they were getting from the river.  This allowed them to pump water on any farmable ground.  Because of World War II, the federal government needed more production from the farmers to support the war efforts.   The federal government came in financed, controlled and made contracts to drill wells to supplement the river water.  The water from these wells could also be used on any land whether it was decreed or not.  

Later in 1995, the courts decided that the 6 acre feet of water per acre annually included river water as well as pump water. This was a big setback for the farmers in the Duncan and Safford valleys.  The irrigation districts were monitored more closely and any over usage of water could result in huge penalties being assessed to the irrigation district or a loss of water rights could result if the law is not followed.  In the beginning, the Safford and Franklin Irrigation Districts had around 50,000 decreed acres, but now they are down to only around 28,000 decreed acres.  This is a huge loss of land and water. 

This water battle has been going on for almost 100 years.  It is a very complicated and difficult issue.  As a member of the Franklin Irrigation District board, Wilber Lunt fought this battle for 57 years.  He testified before a Joint House and Senate hearing in 1990 in defense of our water rights.  As the demand for water from the cities grows, we find ourselves in the court room with judges who have little or no understanding of the history or the issues.  There are enormous political pressures from the cities being applied.  As a small area, our water district and individual farmers cannot afford the huge cost of lawyers and litigation.  

What is right?  Farms that have been here for generations cease to exist, because their water rights are being taken away in order to allow the cities to grow.  We obtained our water legally with the laws that existed at the time.  Through litigation, legislation and regulation, our water rights are being endangered.  Today we grow more crops with less water and yet the government and the courts still want to take more of our water and make us unprofitable.  We need the state to step up and defend the well permits they issued, and the water rights that go with them.  Our ability to pass our farms and legacy to our posterity will cease to exist.  Are our rights secondary to the rights of those who live in the city?  

“Destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.”

Western Interstate Region of National Association of Counties

Greenlee County has a bigger voice in national policies that affect the western area of the United States.  I was voted by the County Supervisor's Association of Arizona to represent them on the Western Interstate Region Board. The Western Interstate Region is made up of 15 western states. By working together as 15 states, we have more influence on the national level.  I also serve on its Public Lands Committee.  The committee lobbies congress for policies that meet the needs of the western United States.

Jason Whiting, Supervisor of Navajo County wrote:  Richard Lunt is one of the most respected Supervisors in Arizona and his leadership is appreciated by all of us.  He is to humble to say he was voted on Unanimously because of the respect he has earned form his peers as we know he will work hard and represent Arizona well.  Thank you, Supervisor Lunt, for your leadership and voice.

Forest Management

I voiced our concerns of forest management, 4 Forest Restoration Initiative, and Travel Management with Vicki Christiansen, Chief U.S. Forest Service, giving Greenlee County a voice.