New legislation would protect Dolores River

By Eva Thomas, Telluride Daily Planet

After two decades of discussion among counties in southwest Colorado, including San Miguel, Dolores, Montezuma and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act was introduced last week by Senator Michael Bennet and co-sponsored by Senator John Hickenlooper.

The act would designate portions of the Dolores River, which runs through all of the counties involved, as a National Conservation Area (NCA). The act would protect 76 miles of the river, as well as 68,000 acres of ponderosa pine forest and desert canyon. The act would start at the river below McPhee Reservoir and Dam and end at the border of San Miguel and Montrose counties near Bedrock.

"So many people have been involved in these negotiations over the years, and county leaders have changed, so this introduction in the Senate is being celebrated widely. It is a big step forward, and we are grateful to Senator Bennet and Senator Hickenlooper for supporting our local process and sponsoring the bill," San Miguel County Commissioner Hilary Cooper said.

In 1968 Congress created the Wild and Scenic River System. When a river is designated as a Wild and Scenic River, it is an automatic federal reserve water right. However, the act also required local land management agencies, like BLM and the U.S. Forrest Service, to test and analyze which rivers under their jurisdiction could be designated as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

"BLM did studies on the Dolores and determined many years ago that the Dolores was a well-qualified river to be designated," explained Jeff Widen, the senior regional conservation representative for the Wilderness Society out of Durango.

So, while the Dolores is technically not a Wild and Scenic River, as a river can only receive that designation through an act of Congress, it was determined as "suitable," which is a recommendation to Congress. Congress can either act on the recommendation or let it sit for decades, as is the case with the Dolores, Widen added.

In 2008, the Dolores River Dialogue formed the Lower Dolores Plan Working Group, which Widen has been a part of since day one. The goal of the group was to have the Dolores River alternatively reattributed as an NCA.

"The grand bargain that was made some years ago was that we, the conservation community, would agree to remove the Dolores River from needing to be studied for Wild and Scenic forever," Widen said.

In exchange, the conservationists forwent the land protection and "protection under a suitability determination with statutory protections," however, no new federal water rights were included, Widen explained. Instead, the group wanted the Dolores as an NCA and designated as a Special Management Area (SMA). An NCA and SMA are very similar and differ only because they are under different agencies.

The group focused on pursuing an NCA attribution early on because the act could be easily tailored to local needs.

"It's more flexible than a Wilderness Area or a Wild and Scenic River. … We agreed to do an NCA and then specifically designed it the way we wanted it and in a way that would work for everyone," Widen said.

In 2016 and 2017, negotiations stalled, and Dolores County attempted to work with San Miguel County on a two-county bill. After a few years of talks, Montezuma County decided to re-engage with the bill, but Montrose County did not.

The legislation was a bipartisan effort, as all the counties and players were able to set aside their political differences in order to work together on a common local purpose. In 2020, all the counties involved, except for San Miguel County, a majority of voters supported Donald Trump.

"Since the beginning, there has been consistent agreement from both sides — agricultural interests and other water users and conservationists and recreationalists — to establish a locally crafted management proposal," Cooper said.

The introduction of the act to the Senate is the first step. The next step would be a committee hearing within the Senate. Eventually, the act would need to be passed by the Senate and the House. According to Cooper, they are in discussions with state representative Lauren Boebert in the hope that she would introduce the bill on the House floor.

"It is no secret that Congress is tough these days, but this bill reflects a truly bipartisan, locally driven and broadly supported designation that will protect a valuable and endangered natural resource, while also supporting the uses that support our regional economy and residents," Cooper said, "We are hopeful that it will move through Congress with the same spirit of setting aside politics to get good policy done that we use at the local level."
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