Local Counties' Proposal Falls Short at Protecting the Dolores River (CO)
American Whitewater, our affiliate clubs, and our members, have been working to protect the Dolores River and its surrounding landscape for over 50 years. The most appropriate tool for the job has been hotly debated - the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, National Conservation Areas, Wilderness, and National Monuments have all been on the table. Despite the disagreement on the mechanism, communities, elected officials, recreationists, hunters and anglers, and businesses all agree that the Dolores River and its surrounding landscape is special. It is, after all, one of the most beloved multi-day river trips in the country, surrounded by the largest and most biodiverse stretch of unprotected public land in Colorado.
On July 24, Montrose and Mesa Counties released a draft boundary map for a proposed National Conservation Area (NCA) encompassing 29,806 acres surrounding the northern part of the Dolores River in the two counties. The northern NCA proposal is an alternative proposal to a coalition-led National Monument effort that has been gaining momentum over the past year. The proposed NCA is much smaller in size (approx. 92.5% smaller) and leaves out key tributaries to the Dolores River, including cold-water fisheries in Roc Creek and a portion of the San Miguel River. Also left out are large portions of the Paradox Valley and nearly all of the three Wilderness Study Areas that are proposed to be protected under the National Monument proposal. The drastically curtailed boundaries also leave numerous cultural and sacred indigenous sites unprotected. We are glad to see Mesa and Montrose Counties coming to the table with a proposal, but the current map-based proposal does not do the Dolores River and all of its surrounding canyons justice.
Many of the Dolores stakeholders, including American Whitewater and all of the counties, were part of conversations for years that considered a National Conservation Area as a tool to protect the entire Dolores River landscape from Mcphee Reservoir to the Colorado stateline. We worked tirelessly to find a solution that worked for everyone, but in 2011, Mesa County and in 2018, Montrose County walked away from the table.
Since then, we have come a long way towards a successful National Conservation Area designation in the southern region of the Dolores, championed by Senator Bennet and Senator Hickenlooper, and with support from Representative Lauren Boebert (the designation would be in Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel Counties). Despite the gridlock in Congress, the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act has made progress in both the House and Senate and is primed to sail across the finish line if (that’s a big if) the right package of bills can come together.
It’s been over 50 years since people came together to try and protect this landscape. With the increasing threat of climate change, destructive development, and an exploding population, the Dolores River and its canyons can’t afford to wait another decade or even another 5 years before action is taken. We are doing everything we can to help get the southern NCA across the congressional finish line this fall, and right now we are asking Senator Bennet and Senator Hickenlooper to work with President Biden, counties, and interested stakeholders to designate the Dolores River Canyons National Monument in the north.
Read our coalition press release here: https://www.protectthedolores.org/release/mesa-and-montrose-counties-slim-conservation-proposal-fails-to-protect-critical-components-of-dolores-canyons