The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Developing an Aperture put-in before next floating season
[ by Mark Reaman ]
Refocusing some efforts on the Slate River Working Group will take place this winter and spring before the 2021 floating season begins. The Crested Butte Town Council received an update on the Slate River situation at the council meeting recently from town planner Mel Yemma and Peter Horgan of the Crested Butte Land Trust. Both said recreational use on the Slate has exploded in the last couple of years and as a result, various mitigation efforts need to be discussed and updated.
Priorities include addressing increased use of the Slate River; developing a lower Slate River subgroup to better manage use on the lower Slate south of the town’s Rec Path Bridge; developing a river put-in at the new Aperture Bridge; reconvening the broad working group to discuss the voluntary no-float period; and working through logistics with the Crested Butte Land Trust over maintenance and management of the river use.
Revisiting the voluntary no-float period with the working group is a top priority and will probably take a professional facilitator to guide the discussion, considering how contentious the topic was when first brought up two years ago.
Yemma said there has been some waning participation in the broad working group, especially with boaters. The no-float period is determined based on water levels and blue heron fledging but generally is in place until July 15. It has always been a controversial action meant to protect the blue herons that nest on the upper Slate below the Gunsight Bridge put-in.
The lower Slate is experiencing major use in the spring; nearly 1,600 river users were observed this past floating season. Some of the biggest impacts are on the Paradise Park neighborhood since most people put-in at the Rec Path Bridge and float to the Brush Creek Road take-out. Yemma said town staff sees the immediate need to design and implement the new river access point at Pyramid Avenue by the Aperture Bridge for the 2021 floating season. Design work for the put-in is now underway.
The town and the land trust also want a more formal understanding of how to perform maintenance on things like river fences and how to keep outreach and education front and center for the public.
Horgan told the council that the most effective outreach to the public came with the river stewards, who greeted potential floaters at either the Gunsight or Rec Path bridges. He said the stewards were able to persuade some floaters to put-in below the blue heron nesting area during sensitive times.
Council agreed to proceed with trying to revitalize the working group before the spring floating season begins.
