Comments Needed for Dolores River Wild & Scenic Suitability (CO)
Posted: 10/13/2016
By: Evan Stafford
Last month, American Whitewater and our conservation partners
won a monumental shift in Wild & Scenic River considerations in Colorado. The Colorado Water
Conservation Board (CWCB) reversed its long-standing policy of opposing federal Wild & Scenic
River protections and voted unanimously to support the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
draft Resource Management Plan and Wild and Scenic Suitability determination for key segments of
the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers. Now the BLM is
accepting public comments
on their Uncompahgre
Field Office draft Resource Management Plan, including Wild
& Scenic River Suitability, through November 1st and we need your help to support these new
suitability findings.
TAKE ACTION: The BLM needs to hear from you that these rivers deserve protection
for their outstanding scenic and whitewater recreational values! Comments can be sent by email
uformp@blm.gov or by mail to the BLM, Uncompahgre Field Office, 2465 S. Townsend Ave., Montrose,
CO
81401.
Key Points to address in your comments:
1. As a concerned river advocate you believe that the Dolores and San Miguel River segments meet
suitability requirements for Wild & Scenic designation because of their outstanding
recreational and scenic values, and that the BLM should maintain their suitability as part of
their Resource Management Plan.
2. That you support the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s request to manage flows through
the Colorado State Instream Flow Program (ISF) but that you’ll also expect the BLM and the
Secretary of the Interior to pursue other flow protections if the ISF’s are not sufficient
to protect whitewater recreation and ecological values.
3. Any personal experiences you’ve had with the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers, and their
current flow regimes and how these have affected your recreation experience.
Please submit your comment on the Resource Management Plan
including the Wild & Scenic suitability for the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers by Tuesday,
November 1st! For more info check out our more detailed web article here, and you
can review the Draft Plan here.