La Jara Reservoir

La Jara Reservoir is a reservoir in Conejos County, Colorado. Located 24 mi west of the town of La Jara, Colorado, the reservoir lies high in the San Juan Mountains. The rocky dirt road to the reservoir is difficult, and the reservoir lies about 15 mi from the nearest paved road. The fishing is poor, but the area surrounding the reservoir is popular with deer, elk, and waterfowl hunters.

Dams
Water in the reservoir is impounded by two dams, with a natural hill separating the two. The dams, called La Jara Dam no. 1 and La Jara Dam no. 2, have NID IDs CO00814 and CO02873 and are earthen dams. They were built in 1906. The reservoir can store up to 14055 acre.ft of water. Dam no. 1 is 48 ft high and 510 ft wide. Dam no. 2 is 24 ft high and  730 ft wide.

Land tenure
The two dams and the reservoir are managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The reservoir and the land surrounding it are state trust land owned by the State of Colorado. Portions of the reservoir and the land surrounding it make up the La Jara Reservoir State Wildlife Area, managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

The Colorado State Land Board, the agency that manages Colorado State Trust lands, is considering transferring the 45650 acre tract of land that makes up the La Jara State Trust Land to the Rio Grande National Forest, which is adjacent to the property. The tract includes the reservoir.

An appraisal completed in October 2023 by Chandler Consulting of Grand Junction, Colorado set the value of the tract at $43.5million. The final sum will be paid by the federal government agencies acquiring the land (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management) to the Colorado State Land Board. The price works out to about 1000 $/acre.