Posted on 02/10/2009 5:21:00 PM PST by george76
A decades old water fight with the federal government came to an end for the Ouray City Council Monday when it voted to remove objections to a settlement for reserved water rights at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
The fight to protect those rights has been going on “for years and years,” .
“The federal government tried to wipe out all water rights.”
A tentative agreement was reached in June of last year on the amount of water that should flow through the national park and was formally decreed by the Gunnison Water Court on Dec. 31.
The water fight involved many entities, including the Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, the National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Western Area Power Administration, Trout Unlimited, High Country Citizens’ Alliance, and more.
Environmentalists have long said the health of the river was vital to the Black Canyon and to endangered species, but that conflicted with the needs of hydropower interests...
Water flows through the Black Canyon had been a topic of debate for 30 years
(Excerpt) Read more at telluridewatch.com ...
These flows will create a healthier environment for a world-class trout fishery, cleanse sediment deposits that cause whirling disease in trout...
phooey
I wonder if Ouray has any paved streets yet. Gorgeous place, very Swiss village like.
ouray (pronounced “you-ray”) is my old stomping ground. to-hell-u-ride is one of my favorite town’s in colorado. i lived in durango for 10 years, so it has a special place in my heart. while i miss colorado and it’s beauty, the influx of socialist californians speeded up my decision to leave.
Yes to some paved streets.
World class ice climbing, summer jeeping and hiking, plus lots of old mines.
Durango webcam:
http://www.gobrainstorm.net/durangocam.htm
They’ve just about rebuilt the part of downtown that burned down.
I was just there a few months ago and it is a destination people must include if they are anywhere nearby.
—went from Lake City to Ouray the hard way several years ago, during the height of wildflower season—spectacular!
There’s something very wrong with the State’s “water rights” laws, that allow the whole outside world to try to affect the “water rights” of the State’s citizens. Why are so many deluded elitists of various kinds on our planet so obsessed with our nearly sterile and brutal place?
By jeep trail, or via the 50?
—jeep trail—(think it’s Engineer Pass)—
The Sierra Club and friends want to steal our water rights.
One trick : As our water goes goes across federal public lands, they try to get the feds ( USFS, etc. ) to reserve a percentage of that water for their causes.
Not buy it, steal the water right.
This blocks farmers, ranchers, cities, and towns from excercising their legal rights.
The eco’s are full of clever, legal and illegal games.
That is an unmitigated fact!!!
Two, Four, Six, Eight... We don't wanna mitigate!!!
What does Ouray have to do with the Gunnison?
The Uncomphagre eventually flows into the Gunnison at Delta, but I would think that Ouray’s water rights to the modest Uncom’ would vastly supersede those of the National Park on the more major Gunnison river.
I know that western water rights can be as complex as a basket of snakes. But this on the surface, seems to be even more ridiculous than the crap we have to deal with in NM.
Ouray - Silverton area is my favorite place in the world. ( I’ve done ALL the 4WD pass roads in the San Juans at least once. Imogene, and Black Bear (If you have the guts) are my favorites, although Stony has an even wider variety of terrain. Owl Creek Pass between Ouray and the Gunnison is a very nice drive if you aren’t into hardcore four wheelin’.
He who controls the land, controls the people!!
He who controls the people is a totalitarian dictator and an UN-American SOB!!!
I think my son has ridden his Dual Sport MC many times in the Colorado 500 put on by Wally Dallenbach Sr near this area. Hollywood has invaded many neat areas and run the working class out...
The NPS and friends have been trying to reserve some water rights downstream by stealing them from junior holders and / or reserving the rights for a fish somewhere downstream.
I spent my career in Hollywood. The reason I was in Humboldt so often was that it was one of the few parts of the west that the clowns I worked with hadn’t managed to damage. They befoul everything they touch. One of my favorite “behind the redwood curtain” memories was coming around a corner and seeing that somebody had painted on a wall the phrase, “go home Zeke, and take your s***ty LA attitude with you”. I knew I’d found kindred spirits.
There appears to be a 4WD route that’d get you over to Telluride feom Silverton, true? If so, what’s it called?
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