The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The flows will create a healthier environment”
A settlement reached last spring over the amount of water that should flow through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was formally decreed by the Gunnison Water Court on December 31.
The agreement took several years of negotiating between the federal government, the state of Colorado, water users such as farmers and fishermen, and water conservationists.
Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD) manager Frank Kugel says, “It’s been a long time coming and years of effort toward reaching this agreement. Our district is thrilled the settlement has worked to the benefit of our water rights owners in the Gunnison Basin.”
Water flows in the Black Canyon have been a topic of debate for three decades.
The final decree mandates the Bureau of Reclamation, which controls flows through the Park, to release annual peak and shoulder flows tied to water availability and a year-round base flow of 300 cubic feet per second.
Conservationists say the flow regime is crucial to the health of the river ecosystem within the park. A January 7, 2009 press release from Western Resource Advocates says the park’s ecology is impacted by a series of three federal dams, known as the Wayne Aspinall Unit. These include Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal Dams.
“The flows will create a healthier environment for a world-class trout fishery, cleanse sediment deposits that cause whirling disease in trout, clear woody debris, maintain the river channel, and greatly improve the aesthetics of a flowing river for hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year,” the release states.
National Parks Conservation Association representative Libby Fayad says, “This agreement recognizes the importance of Black Canyon National Park and the need to preserve its spectacular resources for the benefit of present and future generations.”
A companion story concerning the history of the Black Canyon lawsuit can be found accompanying this story online.
