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<br />.Project <br />trickles TIIEDENVERPOST <br /> <br />forward <br /> <br />Anima~-La Plata <br />objections linger <br />By Electa Draper <br />Donve< POSl Four Comers Bureau <br /> <br />This valley II few miles soutb <br />of Durango has been a source <br />ofconlenUon and ronfusion for <br />southwt'stem CoJorado for two <br />decades, yet it's a quiet and <br />lonely place. <br />Few people come here, but <br />the region's residents argue <br />about it endlessly. It's the des. <br />ignated site of the Animas-La <br />Plala project, which was to be <br />lhe last of the great federal <br />dam projects in the country. <br />A creek <br />sometimes <br />f low S <br />through this <br />basin, a grassy nat host to a <br />few small knolls and bounded <br />by brusl1, pion, juniper and the <br />unremarkable ridgelinesof Ba. <br />sin and Carbon mountains. The <br />basinisa thoroughfare only for <br />deer and elk, and home part of <br />the year to a pair of golden ea. <br />gles nesting high on a rocky <br />ledge. <br />A farmhouse at the northellst <br />edge of the basin is boarded up. <br />Long ago, the basin was the <br />heart of Dodo Ranch. For de- <br />canes it was part of the Bodo <br />State Wildlife Refuge. Then the <br />Bureau of Reclamation bought <br />it in December 1991 to build a <br />reservoir that could hold <br />260,000 acre-fect of water. <br />But A-LP couldn't pass scru- <br />tiny under llnvironmental laws <br />and languished on the drawing <br />board until Intllrior Secretary <br />Bruce Babbitt started backing <br />asmallllr version in 1996. <br />If the long-stalled project is <br />ever built, and many ~lieve <br />it's on its fastest track in a de- <br />cade, a 200-foot-high dam at <br />the basin's narrow eastern end <br />will capture water and create <br />areservolr,whenfulJ,ofabout <br />1,400 surface acres. <br />Water will inundate grass- <br />lands, wetlands, wildlife habi- <br />tat, natural gas pipelines and <br />many of the dusty ruts of Coun- <br />ty Hoad 211. Pipelines and <br />road will be rerouted to higher <br />ground. <br />The U.S. Bureau of Heclama- <br />tion's top Durango manager, <br />Pat Schumacher, has seen <br />plans for A-LP to shrink toone- <br />third the original 1979 design. <br />Indeed, "Animas-La Plata" is a <br />misnomer now, because the <br />project, if built,will divert only <br />water from the Animas River <br />in southern Durango and pump <br />it over a hill into Hidges Basin. <br />The current plan calls for a <br /> <br />RIDGES <br />BASIN <br /> <br /> <br />~i <br /> <br />Pat Schumacher of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation stands <br />on the site of the proposed Animas-La Plata Water Project <br /> <br />reservoir that would hold <br />120,000 acre-feet of water. It <br />will look half as big as popular <br />Vallecito Reservoir about 20 <br />miles northeast of Durango. <br />Under the Department of In- <br />terior's current proposal, <br />Ridges Basin Reservoir will <br />supply only domestic and in. <br />dustrial water, none for irriga. <br />tion, for the two Colorado Ute <br />tribes, the Navajo Nation and <br />non-Indian communities in <br />southwestern Colorado and <br />northwestern New Mexico. <br />And, despite the bureau'sel- <br />forts to scale baek the' project <br />to mule criticism and pass en- <br />vironmental muster, A-LP op- <br />ponentsstill raise thesameob- <br />jections. One's view of A-LP, <br />Schumaehersaid, has more to <br />do with emotions than facts. <br />Last week he discussed some of <br />the most persistent and perva. <br />siveclaims against the project. <br />Views on A-LP depend on <br />how one likes the views of <br />Ridges Basin, the Animas Riv. <br />er and rural Colorado-empty <br />orful!. <br />The fiercest local opponents <br />dominated a public hearing in <br />Durango in mid-February. <br />They argued that A-LP will so <br />deplete the Animas, one of the <br />West's last, great free-flowing <br />rivers, that Durango and envi. <br /> <br />rons will be diminished as a <br />mecca for river sports. <br />Schumacher said the image <br />of a Iree-flowing river is a <br />powerful one, but Animas wa- <br />terisalreadydiverted at many <br />points upstream and down- <br />stream of the A-LP site for ir- <br />rigation and to supply the city <br />of Durango with some of its <br />drinking water. <br />The diversion point in the <br />river for A-LP would be just <br />across from the Santa Rita <br />Park, but it would be down- <br />stl'eam from the world-class <br />whitewater kayaking and ca- <br />noe course. However, A-LP di- <br />version would alfect river flow <br />at the popular Santa Rita IIole, <br />a favorite playground of kay- <br />akers. It also would lower wa- <br />ter at Sawmill Rapids and oth- <br />er sections of the Animas <br />below Santa Rita that eommer. <br />cial rafting companies run in <br />spring and summer. <br />Schumacher said the bureau <br />estimates that rafters will lose <br />an average of six days a year <br />from their season if A-LP is <br />built. The season length now <br />varies from three to four <br />months. <br />Spok~men with the Duran- <br />go-based Taxpayers for the <br />AnimasRiversaytbatinundat_ <br />ing Ridges Basin will destroy <br /> <br />Mondav, March 6, 2000 <br />- <br /> <br />Th~O~nverPoSII ShaunStafikly <br />dam, Some observers think the project now has Its best <br />chance of a approval in a decade. <br /> <br />priceless big-game habitat and <br />wetlands. <br />However, Schumacher said, <br />when the Bureau of Reclama- <br />tion bought 4,000 acres in the <br />basin from the Colorado Divi- <br />sion of Wildlife, the state agen- <br />cy used the proceeds to pur- <br />chase other acreage for <br />wildlife. Even so, under {>ovi- <br />ronmental law, the bureau <br />must still acquire more land <br />for a wildlife preserve, includ- <br />ing wetlands, to further miti- <br />gate A-LP effects, Schumacher <br />said. And, the bureau must <br />leave open corridors for wild- <br />life migration. <br />Critics claim A-LP will open <br />the floodgates to massiveresi- <br />dential growth here, perhaps <br />supporting as many as 200,000 <br />to 300,000 more people in botb <br />states. That is possible, econo- <br />mists and civic planners say, <br />unless the tribes apply most of <br />their water allocation, the li- <br />on's sharI:! of 120,000 acre.feet, <br />10 industrial uses such ascoal- <br />or gas-fired power plants. <br />Even without A.LI', project <br />supporters say, residential <br />growth is occurring here, with <br />developers stripping land and <br />water from s~ruggling farms, <br />turning the region'sagricultllr_ <br />al greenbelts intosllbdivisions. <br />The bureau's latest environ- <br /> <br />If ii's built... <br /> <br />Ridges Basin, a quiet area only a <br />tew miles trom Durango, would <br />be home to a 200-foOI-high dam <br />and 14,OOO.acre reservoir if the <br />Animas-La Plata water project is <br />ever built. <br /> <br /> <br />;';TheOooverFWI <br />work on the An;ma.s-La <br />Plata Project ;s available for <br />pUblic review. For more infar- ' <br />mation, or to obtain a copy of <br />the docum{,,rJt, caU the U.S. BIl- <br />reau of Reclamation Four Cor~ <br />ners Divisioll, (910) 385-6558 or <br />385-6500. <br /> <br />... <br />