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Ill"'" Durango Herald Online ." Page 1 of2 T iD River group looks at plan for rec water One idea: White-water rodeos July 6, 2006 By Ann Butler I Herald Staff Writer The Animas River Task Force caught up on the progress of several projects, including the Recreation In-Channel Diversion river park and river master plan, at its monthly meeting on Wednesday. What's next The city of Durango has filed for Recreation In-Channel Diversion rights in the Animas River. A pre- hearing on the filing will take place before the Colorado Water Conservation Board on July 24 in the ballroom of the College Union Building at Fort Lewis College. The city will present its case at 10 , a.m. During the afternoon, the board will hear from other interested parties, including the Southwest Water Conservation District, the Animas Valley Ditch and Water Co. and the Department of the Interior. The board will accept public comments at 5:30 p.m. The RICD request will go to the Colorado Water Court in 2007 on a date to be determined. The city has requested recreational water rights for the Animas River, which would require the construction of permanent improvements to the riverbed, but the request still has to go through a pre-hearing before the Colorado Water ConsElrvation Board and be ruled on by the Colorado Water Court. "The judge may say we can have a conditional right until we build the park, and then it will be permanent," said Kathy Metz, the director of parks and recreation for the city. "On the other hand, we may not get the right, and the park may never get built." The budget and timing for the park are still undetermined. Task-force members have seen a draft of the Parks/Open SpacelTrail Fund budget that will be funded by Ballot Measure 2A sales tax that voters approved in 2005. Members questioned the timing of the funds for the river park. "The budget is a plan of all capital projects for the fund," Metz said. "We weren't sure how long everything would take, so we put the design money in 2008 and construction of the park in 2009." Metz also said that the dates for the project are just projections. Task Force member Brian Brown said that in planning river uses, weekend white- water rodeos might be an option, similar to the weekly livestock rodeos at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. "Just like tourists like to see people bouncing around on bulls, they like to see people bouncing around rapids," he said. The group also discussed an underpass for the 32nd Street Bridge and an extension to the Animas River Trail north of the bridge. Metz said that money is proposed for the 2007 budget to acquire land for the underpass. The Friends of the Animas River have joined an international group called Riverkeepers and will now be known as the Animas Riverkeeper. One of the organization's main goals is to prevent further river-bank erosion and protect the riparian zone. Dave Wegner said that the big cottonwood by the Ninth Street Bridge had blown over Monday night. "It's going to keep happening if we don't stabilize the banks and plant new ones," he said. The Riverkeeper organization is applying for a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Grant from Congress through the office of Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassas. The grant would be used to survey the river in Durango and create a summary map to be used by http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/printable _article _generation. asp ?article -path=/news/06/... 7 110/2006 .y