By Dale Will
The headline on Heather Sackett’s recent coverage of the Crystal Augmentation Study caught my eye: “Janeway site promising for Crystal River backup water supply.” (See Aspen Times, July 22, 2023 or www.aspenjournalism.org) For those of you not following this study, the West Divide Water Conservancy District (WDWCD) and the Colorado River Water Conservation District (CRWCD) are looking for water storage options to sate the thirst of residential subdivisions along the river itself.
One of CVEPA’s proudest environmental victories was achieved with strong support from Pitkin County and others when WDWCD and CRWCD were compelled in 2012 to abandon their dream of a storage reservoir on the main stem of the Crystal River. The battle over the proposed Placita Dam was driven by an ambition to export Crystal water (see www.soprissun.com/west-divide-placita-dam-a-brief-history). In contrast, the current study seeks to address competing demands within the Crystal Valley.
The water supply agencies are concerned that domestic wells serving the myriad residential subdivisions sprawling between Carbondale and Marble were, in 2018, subjected to pumping restrictions to satisfy the senior water rights of agricultural irrigation ditches in the lower valley. And, these agencies are now again looking for ways to store our water. The difference this time is that no one can point at “outsiders” trying to grab the precious H20; we have met the enemy, and it is us.
To its credit, the new water plan is seeking “natural” ways of keeping more of the spring runoff in the valley so that the river will retain enough flow late in the summer to allow domestic wells to pump even while watering alfalfa, hay and the odd potato continues. The theory is that the watershed functioned better before the railroad and then the State Highway boxed the river into a narrow channel.
Indeed there are obvious places where the highway and the old railroad blocked the river from its historic floodplain, thereby limiting groundwater storage. For example, the confluence of Coal Creek and the Crystal River used to be a mile downstream of where it is now, and one can still see the old bed of Coal Creek filling with water in the spring, even though it is now cut off from the river by Highway 133. And hence the concept of reconnecting the river to its floodplain to restore natural storage.
The problem with applying this concept to Janeway is that the evidence suggests this area dried out long before Europeans arrived. Shortly after the Utes were marched out of western Colorado, an enterprising pioneer named John Mobley brought his family over Schofield Pass, and eventually built the cabin that remains to this day visible from Highway 133 (see www.historyredstone.org/vintage-valley/a-real-pioneer-john-mobley). The cabin, labeled “Mobley’s Corral” on early maps, became a post office in 1887, several years before the Crystal Railroad was laid down. Access was via the Ute Trail, cum Rock Creek Wagon Road. The railroad bed was later constructed inland of the cabin site. Unlike areas where the rail bed was rip rapped against the river’s edge, the grade height in this location is minimal, and the vegetation on either side of it is similar.
Meanwhile “Rock Creek” became the “Crystal River” and “Mobley’s Corral” became “Janeway” (a tribute to heiress Jane Irwin Francis who resided near Carbondale and maintained a rather mysterious relationship with local miner Harry Van Syckle). There is no indication that flood waters have impacted the cabin itself, although it’s been sandwiched between the railbed and the river for over 120 years.
Today Mobley’s Corral can be accessed via a small trailhead near the Avalanche Creek closure gate. As Sackett’s article notes, the vegetation there is not that of a seasonal wetland, but is comprised of upland xeric species such as potato cactus, mountain mahogany and sagebrush. The whole flat is quite dry, except for the north end under the red cliffs, where the river has already reclaimed its freedom. And yet, the supply water agencies are considering a $1.5 million project to flood this area with a 765-foot “excavated channel” into the southern (and dry) side of Janeway. Not a reservoir mind you, merely an excavated channel. “Nature-based.”
Pitkin County’s Assistant Attorney Laura Maker is openly critical of this idea. She suggests the need for the project can be entirely avoided by cooperative agreements between irrigators and water suppliers to “loan” ditch water during late summer in dry years. CVEPA agrees. Let’s not start digging channels (reservoirs?) into historic landscapes without first seeking cooperation among local water users. And we certainly hope this entire conversation makes it obvious that our fragile little valley has reached its carrying capacity for suburban sprawl.
Be assured that CVEPA will continue to champion careful stewardship of the Crystal River. Anyone wishing to learn more about the augmentation plan would do well to attend CVEPA’s annual meeting, Aug. 20th at 4pm at the Raspberry Ridge Cafe (formerly the Inn at Raspberry Ridge) in Marble. We will be joined by Andy Mueller of the CRWCD for an update on Crystal Augmentation as well as the District’s interest/role in establishing the Crystal River Wild and Scenic Collaborative.
To learn more about CVEPA, please visit cvepa.org