![]() ![]() “Too many people are justifiably concerned about how the river is behaving in that area and the consequences of it. “It’ll be in there,” Warren Rider, coordinator of the Animas Watershed Partnership, which is leading the SMP process, said. Recently, a number of stakeholders invested in the Animas River began the process of forming a stream management plan (SMP) for the waterway, which will likely address lasting impacts caused by historic gravel mining. Yet the damage left by gravel mining between Bakers Bridge and Trimble has gone largely unnoticed and unaddressed – in part, because that stretch, hemmed in by private property, is relatively unused for recreational purposes such as river running or fishing.īut that all might soon change. ![]() ![]() ![]() Indeed, much attention has been given to restoring the Animas River over the years, including, most notably, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund that was declared in the wake of the 2015 Gold King Mine spill to clean up the mines around Silverton. “It is the stretch of river that’s most disturbed and has the most degraded habitat.” “I think this section of river ought to be top priority,” Peter Butler, co-founder of the disbanded Animas River Stakeholders Group and longtime Animas River advocate, said. Over the years, gravel mining has completely altered the function of the river and turned it into what looks like the surface of the moon. The Animas River has had its issues – contamination from the Silverton area’s mining legacy, chronically lower flows because of a 20-year drought, the septic pond at Lightner Creek Mobile Home Park leaching poop into the river, to name a few.īut one of the less commonly discussed, yet perhaps among the most significant issues, is the impact of historic gravel mining on the 6-mile stretch from Bakers Bridge to Trimble Lane, north of Durango. ![]()
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