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I I II~ LJ Ll . ~ 1.1' I v.... 1 COLORADO I IIVUY, ....';a...tlIIIUtll IV. I~ao ,. Batter~d river gets new shape: .. Bulldozers to create meandering route By Nancy Lolholm Denver Post Western Slope Bureau Many decades ago, this slretcb of tbe NorlJl Fork of tbe Gunnison River near Hotchkiss looped througb meadows and farm fields. Today, parts of it flow. as straight as a storm sewer. But a unique partnership of nine land- owners and 24 agencies and foundations plans to undo the damage and over- slraJghlening caused. by humans trying to contain tbis river. With bulldozers, blueprints and massive piles of rocks, tbey started puiting the curves back in the North Fork tbis week. They're also putting back the pools for fisb, rapids lor ralters, hetter diversions lor irriga- tors, wetlands for wildlife and bank sta- bility for landowners. "We're putting the fun back in the river," said project engineer Jeff Crane, wbo has been working for three years to plan tbis river makeover. "We're trying to enable the river to do what it natu- rally does and still he able to sustain all its traditional uses." Other rivers near Pagosa Springs and Alamosa have undergone similar recla- mation efforts, but this one is different because of who came together to make it possible. The North Fork River Im- . provement Association includes gravel miners, environmentalists, ranchers, recreational groups and irrigation com- panies - entities with some deep dif- ferences when it comes to rivers. It also includes landowners who for years have been digging in or blocking off sections of the river to protect their land - of- Speelal ~o The Denver Post I MAckey Kr8kowakl Frank Edge 01 Sickles Construction works on restoring the original circuitous route 01 the North Fork of the Gunnison River near Hotchkiss on Thursday. " tentimes to the detriment of other land, owners downstream. . "When one of us digs in the river a little, the river moves the gravel down and piles it up on someone else's prop' erty," explained landowner Paul Reed as he pointed to rocks littering land that was once usable farm ground. . The problems that turned this section of tbe Nortb Fork into a land-eroding, ditchlike river began before tbe turn of tbe century wben settlers began carving channels for irrigation. The real dam~ age came in tbe late 1940s wben Delta County received a war surplus bulldoz~ er from tbe government. Bulldozing the river became an annual activity. Because of the way modern irrigation systems are located on tbe river, tbat IJUlldozing has had lo continue in places to this day. "The ri ver has been in chaos," said Dan Geolfo88, a ditch rider and secre- tary Itreasurer for .the Smith McKnight Ditch Co. thal channels irrigation water from the North Fork. Help for the river project has come from many disparate eorners, including lhe Coloradu Department of Transpor. Latino and Mesa" State Colh'ge in Grand ~ , We're putting the fun- back in the river. , Jeff Crane project engineer Junction. The river association raised $I80,Oqp for the project but Crane said tbe proJ- ect has drawn about twice tbat much in 'donated services. .1 The transportation department gave tbe association' boulders aDd Delta County dODated trucks and loaders So project workers would collect rocll from farm fields to use in the riv..-, Several local mining companies pitched in with equipment and technical suI>' port. Mesa State College aDd Delta High School are helping by giving studenlll credit for plantiDg willows and other natural vegetation along the river . banks under the tutelage of a soil bilt engineer. . The project is expected to be co"l- pleted in April. CraDe said he will th~ spend the next five years monitorill/l the river to see whicb techniques wo~~' ed and which didn't. "This river is still a river,"Crane said. "It won't be perfect. I don't expeel lhal." .,1