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September 9, 2005 <br />By Joe Hanel I Herald Denver Correspondent <br />DENVER - The state Legislature's water guru is ready for a little less talk and a little more action on the controversy over <br />kayak parks. <br />Sen. Jim Isgar, D- Hesperus, presided over a daylong hearing Wednesday to hear from people on all sides of the issue, which <br />pits kayakers against farmers in a battle to control the water in Colorado's streams. <br />"We went to a hearing in Silverthorne. We went to Steamboat and had a discussion there. Yesterday we heard more <br />testimony. We've heard everyone's opinions. Now we need to draft some legislation," Isgar said. <br />Many towns are building white -water parks, similar to Durango's Smelter Rapid. But those parks require that enough water be <br />kept in the river so that boats don't scrape bottom. <br />The parks present a challenge to traditional water law, which focuses on who gets to take water out of the river, rather than <br />who wants to leave it in. White -water park proponents say that rafting and kayaking are beneficial economic uses of the water, <br />just like farming, so their parks should be entitled to keep the water in the river. <br />But Isgar worries that the recreational rights might hurt other water users. <br />"It'll be contentious no matter what we do" he said. "I want to recognize recreational needs, but I want to avoid unintended <br />consequences from some of these filings." <br />Isgar hopes to have a draft bill ready for inspection by the Water Resources Review Committee by its Sept. 27 meeting. <br />The Durango City Council is considering applying for a recreational water - rights permit for the Smelter Rapid kayak park. Vail, <br />Breckenridge and Golden already have recreational -water permits. <br />In March, the Legislature killed a bill that would have limited water- rights claims for kayak parks to 350 cubic feet per second. <br />Isgar said the bill's failure was his biggest disappointment of the legislative session, which ended in May. <br />Drew Peternell of Trout Unlimited spoke in favor of water rights for recreation at Wednesday's hearing. <br />"All this talk about protecting agriculture from recreation seems to me to be disingenuous, because these things are non - <br />consumptive," meaning the water used for boating stays in the stream rather than being absorbed in the ground, he said in an <br />interview. <br />The 350 cfs limit is one of the trickiest parts of the problem. <br />"We have a tremendous diversity of rivers and streams in this state, and what is required for a recreational experience in one <br />river may not be in another river," Peternell said. <br />He suggested setting limits at a percentage of each river's historic flow, but Isgar said that approach might run into the same <br />problem - half of the river's flow, for example, might be good enough on parts of the Animas River, but not enough for boaters <br />in the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs. <br />Contents copyright ©, the Durango Herald. All rights reserved. <br />http : / /www.durangoherald.com/asp- bin /printable_article_ generation. asp ?article _path= /news... 9/9/2005 <br />