<br />.Project
<br />trickles TIIEDENVERPOST
<br />
<br />forward
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<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 />
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<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.
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