A commercial trip with Mild to Wild hits the Animas on Wednesday. While the season is winding down now, raft guides and others who make thier living off the river suddenly found themselves idle during the height of the season when the Animas shut down. A community fund has been set up to help such workers make ends meet in light of the loss of income./Photo by Jennaye Derge

Throwing a lifeline

Community relief fund helps impacted workers stay afloat

by Missy Votel

When the Gold King Mine disaster struck on Aug. 5, it didn’t just leave weekend warriors in the lurch. Hundreds of workers who rely on the river for a steady paycheck suddenly found themselves out of a job indefinitely. And while the river was only closed for eight days, for those all too familiar with the “Durango Tango,” eight days without a paycheck can spell the difference between choosing to pay rent or say, choosing to eat.

For Drew Beasley, co-owner of Four Corners Whitewater, the hit was “huge.” Although the river opened a week and a day after the spill, on Aug. 14, Beasley said he cancelled all his trips until Aug. 17, the earliest tentative date the EPA first put out for re-opening the river.

“We would’ve had a big finish to the season,” he said. “We had our biggest Rockwood trip ever, for 18 people, but we had to cancel.”

For he and his dozen or so seasonal employees, the summer suddenly went from big to bust.

“A lot of our guides didn’t know what was going to happen and just split,” he said.

Many of his workers are professional guides, who work rivers in the summer and mountains in the winter. Most left in search of work elsewhere. Beasley himself left to run trips on other rivers.

However, with the river season winding down, a community effort is helping these workers bridge the somewhat difficult shoulder season, made even more so by the unanticipated cut in pay.

“A lot of these guys and gals are living hand to mouth,” said Tim Walsworth, director of the Durango Business Improvement District, or BID. “They were counting on this last month of pay.”

As a result, BID, together with the Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado, have opened up the Community Emergency Relief Fund to help such workers. According to Walsworth, it’s meant to help with basic needs, such as money for gas, groceries or help paying utility bills. Rather than being given cash, most recipients are given gift cards, say to City Market or Peerless Gas, or credits for the utility companies instead.

The fund was started in 2008 in response to the fire at Seasons Rotisserie and Grill, which left dozens of people from that restaurant and neighboring businesses out of work.

“The community rallied pretty quickly and donated more than $100,000,” said Walsworth, who was working as director of the United Way at the time. “Fifty-six families in ’08 got financial assistance for short-term needs.”

However, not all that money was used, and under the auspices of the Community Foundation, it was invested. Today, there is about $28,000 in the fund, with another $10,000 in reserve, according to Community Foundation Executive Director Briggen Wrinkle.

As of Tuesday, Wrinkle said word was still getting out to locals of the availability of funds. So far, she had received 27 applications totaling about $23,000.

The funds are available to anyone who was laid off or had his or her hours severely reduced due to the Gold King Mine incident. Walsworth said the plan is to have the fund open through October, with workers able to apply monthly. However, at this rate – with only about $5,000 left in the fund – Wrinkle said more money is needed.

“We’re really looking for more community support,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll keep getting more donations.”

So far, the fund has received promises totaling $12,000 from several local entities, including First National Bank of Durango, Bank of Colorado, LPEA and Nature’s Oasis.

 Unlike the compensation the EPA is offering through its “Form 95,” the Community Relief Fund is meant to provide immediate support. Walsworth said the application process is easy, and after employment verification, applicants typically can expect a response in 48 to 72 hours.

“There’ a billion times less red tape than the EPA form,” he said. “People need money now, not six months from now.”

EPA spokeswoman Brooke Hanson said although the Form 95 claims process can take up to six months, the agency is working to expedite the process in Durango. Two sessions were held last week to help people with claims, but Hanson said traffic was light. “We didn’t have a lot of visitors,” she said.

Although, she did note it is still early in the process. “People have up to two years from Aug. 5 to file a claim,” she added. The compensation is open to anyone who suffered property or economic loss or personal injury as a result of the contamination. There is no dollar cap on the claims, she said. However, the process may include a back-and-forth dialogue with the claims officer requesting more information.  

It’s a process some businesses affected by the spill simply don’t have the time for. Last week, owners of three farms in the Animas Valley that rely on irrigation water from the Animas River – Adobe House Farm, 550 Farms and James Ranch – said they don’t plan on pursuing claims with the EPA. Joe Wheeling, owner of the gardens at James Ranch, said although he did suffer losses, the time and effort involved in filing the claim wasn’t worth it. In the end, the compensation might not even out to minimum wage.

As for Beasley, who was cleaning boats on Tuesday in preparation for the end of the season, he likely spoke for many Durangoans affected by the spill. “I was going to get to that tomorrow,” he said of the EPA’s Form 95. “We haven’t even had time to calculate how much we lost yet. But it doesn’t sound like there’s harm in filling it out.”

In the meantime, he has a smattering of trips still on the books, and said for the most part, customers are understanding and don’t seem all too concerned by the news.

“I think it’ll get better once it all washes out,” he said of the remaining sediment and noticeable orange bathtub mark. “And people will forget all about it.”