The Animas River flows through a snowy landscape as it winds itself south toward town from from Bakers Bridge on Tuesday morning. Parts of the Animas, as well as nearby Hermosa Creek, are being consdiered for Wild and Scenic status because of their unique and pristine qualities./Photo David Halterman

by Will Sands

The San Juan Mountains boast many of the West’s finest rivers and streams, and yet the Wild and Scenic River designation has somehow eluded Southwest Colorado. That trend may be reversed in coming years, however. The San Juan Public Lands Center recently took a big step toward Wild and Scenic status for several of the region’s streams and is now looking to the Durango community to pick up the charge.

In 1968, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was signed into law. The act created a policy “that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes.”

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has accomplished this goal in many places. The Pacific Northwest has had an especially strong record for Wild and Scenic Rivers. Forty-seven rivers and streams have been designated and preserved in Oregon alone.

However, Colorado, a state known for contentious water politics, has but one Wild and Scenic River. After years of negotiations, controversy and in-fighting, the Cache la Poudre River, which flows from its Rocky Mountain National Park headwaters down through Fort Collins, was designated in the mid-1980s. Colorado’s poor record is destined to change, however, and a river in the San Juan Mountains could become the state’s second Wild and Scenic River.

“This is about the importance of protecting rivers,” said Dave Wegner, of the Friends of the Animas River. “They provide a tremendous resource to the people of Colorado and the nation. We now have a real opportunity in Southwest Colorado.”

The San Juan Public Lands Center recently released a draft management plan for Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in Southwest Colorado. As part of that draft, the agencies evaluated the area’s rivers and streams with a mind toward Wild and Scenic status.

“For the first time, we’re taking a complete look at possible Wild and Scenic Rivers on BLM and Forest Service lands in the area,” explained Thurman Wilson, assistant manager of the San Juan Public Lands Center.

In recent years, the agencies have undertaken an exhaustive search for “outstandingly remarkable values” on each of Southwest Colorado’s rivers and streams. Those values can be biological, recreational, geologic or archeological. In its search, the San Juan Public Lands Center short-listed dozens of creeks and rivers in the region that have one or more values. The list included everything from the entire Animas and Piedra rivers to the water-deprived Lower Dolores and obscure creeks like Cinnamon, Deer Park and Molas.

In recent months, the Forest Service and BLM took a sharper look at “suitability,” shortening the list to rivers which actually stand a chance of gaining the prestigious designation. That short list includes stretches of the Los Piños, the Piedra, and the Lower Dolores River from McPhee to the town of Bedrock.

“The Dolores, Pine and Piedra rivers were all studied back in the late ’70s and early ’80s and found to be eligible and suitable then,” Wilson said. “With the recent work, we’re affirming that they continue to be suitable for a Wild and Scenic designation.”

A new, strong candidate for Wild and Scenic status also emerged in the agencies’ study – Hermosa Creek. The stream just north of Durango boasted strong wild, scenic and recreational values and now represents one of the San Juan Mountains’ best shots at a Wild and Scenic designation.

“The big one that really pops out is Hermosa Creek,” said Wilson. “It has never been studied before, but it has strong attributes and a good chance of making it through the process and becoming a Wild and Scenic River.”

Hermosa Creek has been on the Friends of the Animas River’s wish list for many years, and Wegner noted that the population of Colorado River Cutthroat Trout in the stream and its tributaries is a strong argument for the designation.

“I think Hermosa Creek and the tributaries that feed it have been on our radar for a long time,” he said “That’s largely because of the potential to restore native cutthroats in the drainage.”

Assuming the San Juan Public Lands Center’s draft plan is adopted, a trip to Washington, D.C., would be the next step in the process. Wild and Scenic Rivers are created either by a legislative action or a state governor petitioning the Secretary of the Interior for the designation. However, either of those routes will depend on a community mandate, according to Wegner.

“It’s going to be very difficult to get a Wild and Scenic designation, and I think it’s really important that the public continue to participate,” he said. “It is a public process, and it’s vital that there be community buy-in.”

Chuck Wanner, water issues coordinator for San Juan Citizens Alliance, agreed that community support will be crucial to any designation. Wanner also has a unique perspective on Wild and Scenic Rivers. As president of the citizens group, Preserve Our Poudre, he successfully lobbied for the Cache la Poudre’s designation nearly 20 years ago.

“San Juan Citizens Alliance recognizes that any effort to establish a Wild and Scenic River will have to be community driven,” Wanner said. “In the end, any decision will be the result of a community-based process.”

With these odds in mind, Wilson and the San Juan Public Lands Center have high hopes.

“Given the context of there only being one Wild and Scenic River in Colorado and knowing that water issues are contentious in the state, I think we’re still optimistic,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of people in the region interested in working together to protect our rivers and streams.” •