Kent Ford glances over a map the day after a run down the Animas River, going from Durango to Aztec. Ford is currently working on a guidebook for the Four Corners Paddle Trail Project and hopes to have it completed early this summer./Photo by Steve Eginoire

Happy trails

Enthusiasts find ways to bridge gaps in local river system

by Tracy Chamberlin

For many Durangoans, river talk on the Animas means debates over Oxbow Park, the 32nd Street put-in or discussions about the new Whitewater Park at Santa Rita. But recreation on the River of Lost Souls doesn’t has to end at the south end of town.

“How come no one floats between Durango and Farmington?” asked Attila Bality, outdoor recreation planner for the National Park Service in New Mexico.

What’s missing are access points along the river banks, established campsites and signage marking routes, displaying maps and pointing out hazards.

In an effort to bridge the gap between the two communities and encourage locals to explore their own back yard, a group of local river enthusiasts and other interested stakeholders have come together to create the Four Corners Paddle Trail Project.

The project targets the Animas River from Hermosa to where it hits the San Juan in Farmington, which runs about 90 miles, and a section of the San Juan River stretching from Navajo Lake Dam to Kirtland, which spans 40 miles.

“I think ultimately people will be better caretakers for the river they know,” said Kent Ford, a paddling advocate and one the leaders of the project.

Want more? For more information and to keep up with the project, visit the group’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/FourCornersPaddleTrail/ Looking to get involved? Contact Kent Ford at: kentford@gobrainstorm.net.

The belief is that recreation on the Animas and San Juan rivers fosters conservation of the river and surrounding areas, a sense of the importance of water as a resource and an understanding of water safety.

“When you come into a hazard and you’re a novice,” Bality explained. “You need to know where (they) are.”

For example, two dams sit along the proposed routes and both are labeled extremely dangerous. The Hammond Dam on the San Juan River is between Bloomfield and Navajo Dam Road; and the Penny Lane Dam is between Aztec and Farmington.

Novice boaters or paddlers need to know those hazards exist, as well as how to avoid them.

Ford is working on a guidebook and hopes to have it completed early this summer. Intended to be a short
pamphlet-like guide, it will be open to contributions from others and free of charge.

Another concern is the private properties along the way. River users would benefit from awareness of where those lands are and what the law allows.

Colorado law allows for public use of waterways, so long as those who float or boat on streams don’t touch the banks or beds. That would be trespassing.

In New Mexico, the state constitution maintains that water in a stream is public. So, the public can float or boat along if they have legal access to the river.

Both states also have statutes attempting to clarify liability and landowner protections for public waterways. This medley of law and statute, combined with a mixture of private and municipal lands dotting the river banks, makes for a complex project.

With no shortage of ruckus over river use locally, the leaders of the project are careful to define the National Water Trails initiative, which centers on slow-moving rivers – not whitewater – as well as streams, lakes and bayous.

Bality, who was invited to work on the project by local river users and not assigned by any federal agency, said the intention was never to pursue designation as a National Water Trail.

Currently, a working group made up of interested parties and stakeholders is using the water trails program guidelines to determine if the routes are even suitable.

If they are, he explained, it doesn’t prohibit any specific activities, like a Wild and Scenic designation. Nor is it a part of the U.S. Department of Interior’s recently quashed federal Blueways Program, which caused some controversy during its brief existence.

The water trails program is a completely local initiative with no federal oversight and no federal funding, according to Bality. 4

Becoming a part of the National Water Trails system is on the table, but it’s not something that needs lawmakers to intervene and it would not prohibit river use on the Animas and San Juan.

Although the group is still in feasibility mode, they are looking to complete the study and present it to San Juan County, N.M., officials by the end of the year.

Already, the project leaders have held several community meetings and hosted event booths in an attempt to reach out to communities and landowners along the two stretches of river.

Many have responded and expressed interest in the project, including the cities of Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield and Durango, as well as San Juan College, Trails 2000, 4 Corners River Sports, Aztec Trails & Open Space, and more.

In New Mexico, Ford said, Aztec and Farmington are excited about linking paddling access points, and the River Reach Foundation and the New Mexico based Four Corners Economic Development offices spearhead the project.

The big question is: can these municipalities, state agencies, tribal interests and private land owners work together for river recreation?

If they can coordinate such a complex project, the benefits are more than economic, Bality said. “It’s really about getting local people on the river.”