Last month, the Crystal River Wild and Scenic subcommittee released a report after spending years evaluating how a congressional Wild and Scenic River designation could protect the Crystal River as one of Colorado’s last remaining free-flowing rivers. While the Crystal’s waters help support many local agricultural endeavors, the river has never been dammed or otherwise had major diversions that significantly alter the river. Proponents of the Wild and Scenic campaign, including the subcommittee that produced the report, argue that a federal designation will help ensure that the Crystal River can still be used for recreation and agriculture and sustain the same wilderness and ecosystem benefits that it has for decades.
The Crystal Steering Committee is chaired by Pitkin and Gunnison counties and the Town of Marble, and includes additional members like Carbondale-based nonprofit Wilderness Workshop, Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association and Colorado River Water Conservation District. Within the larger goal of preserving the river, the group aims to prevent the waters from any future risk of damming, any out-of-basin diversions and the risk of industrial pollution or other harmful impacts.
“The Crystal River is the lifeblood of our communities,” said Michael Gorman of Wilderness Workshop, a Wild and Scenic subcommittee member. “This report shows that Wild and Scenic designation is the strongest action we can take to make sure that the river continues to sustain us, through a plan shaped by the people who know the river best. It’s time to bring our whole community together to shape legislation that fits our local landscape and gives the Crystal the protection it deserves.”
Many waters in Colorado and across the American West are facing increasing pressure from proposed impoundments and water diversion projects that would affect natural flow regimes and damage the ecological and recreational values they provide. These potential threats on water resources are a concern for Crystal River preservation activists and a major driver behind the years-long efforts toward a federal Wild and Scenic designation.
The September report does not advocate for or against designation; members of the Crystal Steering Committee remain split on the usefulness of a federal Wild and Scenic designation. What the report demonstrates is that many of the questions, concerns and interests raised by community members — including water rights, private property, local control, agriculture, recreation and river management — can be addressed through carefully-crafted legislation and a locally informed planning process.
The Wild and Scenic subcommittee of the coalition hopes that the report will serve as an opportunity to move forward on the next step in protecting and preserving the Crystal River. The committee’s long-term goal is a community-driven effort to develop a proposal that reflects the Crystal Valley’s shared priorities, regardless of whether a Wild and Scenic designation ends up being identified as the best option. In late May, the group achieved an earlier milestone in that process, when Gunnison County, Pitkin County, the Town of Marble, the Colorado River Water Conservation District and West Divide Water Conservancy District signed an intergovernmental agreement pledging to defend the river against dams or out-of-basin diversions.
The committee’s desired goals for the Crystal River include maintaining it as a free-flowing river protected from dams and out-of-basin diversions, healthy river and riparian ecosystem function, sustainable recreation and tourism and locally-controlled water and property rights for agriculture and irrigation. Some key findings of the September report include that a Wild and Scenic designation could be structured to address local priorities and protect existing uses, that already-designated Wild and Scenic rivers in the United States provide examples of customized legislative language to protect existing water rights and infrastructure and that the designation is one of the most durable protective mechanisms for rivers.
“This report represents the culmination of years of meetings between diverse community stakeholders,” said subcommittee member Tait Andersen, who is also a board member of the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association. “While there have been disagreements, at the heart of the dialogue, there has always been a shared respect for the river and for the valley that it flows through.”
The Wild and Scenic feasibility report is available for public perusal online at tinyurl.com/wildandscenicfeasibility alongside links to related Crystal River preservation efforts.