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City of Durango: Flow Rates and Commercial Operators rinui Rop rl <br />III. SURVEY CONCLUSIONS <br />N111Y3 <br />Operator assertions on the key nature of flows is congruent with quantifiable records regarding <br />consumer whitewater rafting participation and water flows. <br />Figure 2 demonstrates a striking correlation between historical mean water flows and whitewater <br />consumer participation. Consumer recreational rafting user days follow nearly lockstep mean <br />annual water flows as they clearly increase or decrease in proportion with one another. <br />Figure 2. Commercial User Days & Mean Annual Water Flows (cfs) Lower Animas River 1995 -20052 <br />B0,0( <br />50,0( <br />40,0( <br />30,0( <br />20,0( <br />10,0( <br />1,400 <br />1,200 <br />1,000 <br />800 <br />600 <br />400 <br />200 <br />Rafting operators, many of whom have been operating on the Lower Animas for ten or more <br />years, agree that water flow rates are a critical attribute of their. business. More so than any <br />other factor, including the simple seasonal availability of tourists - low water seasons have <br />occurred in which many tourists were present in the region but commercial rafting operations still <br />suffered notable declines in business. One operator noted that his business "followed the <br />hydrometer, when the water is up, business is up, when it's down, so is business." According <br />to operators, because nearly 80% of trips are reserved within a two week timeframe of actual <br />trip execution, customers often inquire about local conditions (specifically current class status of <br />the whitewater features - again, whitewater class status fluctuates with flow rates given current <br />whitewater feature structures). <br />Other analogous research that may contribute to an understanding of this might be a skiing <br />analysis conducted for Aspen Ski Company which revealed that skier days also could be well <br />correlated with mean average snow depths' More closely related research counted commercial <br />rafting clients on various segments of the Arkansas River.' Those sections with Class [I+-IV <br />` source: Commercial River Use In Colorado -& USGS Water Statistics <br />hnp : / /waterdata,usgs.gov /co /nwis /annual /?search_site_no= 09361500 &agency_cd = USGS &referred_module =sw &format =sites selection_links <br />970.382.9153 6 <br />—i-- Commercial User Days — 4—Mean Annual Water Flow (cis) <br />