As the Animas River slows from raging to mellow with summer approaching, river users and law enforcement are adjusting to a new normal on the increasingly trafficked waterway.
In recent years, police have dealt with a swelling flood of complaints about loud noise, intoxicated people on the river and trespassing on riverfront properties.
“The problems are pretty persistent through the years,” said Lt. Ray Shupe, Durango Police Department spokesman. “I think it’s increased exponentially with the amount of inner-tubers and river users we have now.”
While the river’s flow peaks in late May or early June, the prime season for recreation is around the bend, in late June and July.
No one keeps track of how many river users float down the Animas through Durango. But longtime observers say river use has exploded amid greater popularity of rafting, kayaking, inner-tubing and paddleboarding. Sometimes, those users clash.
“Everybody’s been pretty respectful,” said Colin Brunson, 29, of Durango. “There’s a good group of rafters and kayakers in this town.”
But Kit Barton, 21, said, “The tubing crowd is totally different. It’s people that don’t know what they’re doing, for the most part.”
Tubers, he said, “can kind of ruin it for everyone. I wish they could come out and respect the river more, I guess.”
Barton said kayakers and rafters overwhelmingly wear personal flotation devices. Not so tubers, who are at greater risk of leaving their craft.
Police in recent years have increased their presence along the river. The Durango Police Department typically has two to three officers patrol on bicycle or foot along the river during summer. Often, the officers are school resource officers on summer break from school duty.
“They start hitting the river trail and raft put-ins and start to quell any complaints,” Shupe said. Law-enforcement activity, Shupe said, is “pretty well steady all summer as long as the water flow is good.”
The department does not put officers on the river itself. In 2011, La Plata County Mounted Patrol purchased a raft to patrol the river, but the idea didn’t work out, said Steve Callaghan, a longtime Mounted Patrol volunteer.
Outside official police patrol, river users are left to police themselves.
Shupe had a couple of tips to keep river users out of trouble:
Stay off private property, which is most places along the riverbanks and even islands in the middle of the river. “Most people don’t understand that people’s property goes to the middle of the river,” he said. “You can’t get off your raft or inner tube most places along the river because it’s private property.”
Don’t drink and float. The rule often is ignored, but open alcohol containers are not allowed on the river.
“The river itself is considered a park as it flows through Durango,” Shupe said. “You can’t have any open containers in any park in Durango.”
Police typically deal with violators by issuing citations.
“We mainly take a no-tolerance stance because we have a lot of complaints that come in in reference to it,” Shupe said.
Open beers on the Animas are a common sight, and early-season river users said they hadn’t been bothered by police.
“Beer and boating go hand in hand for most people,” Barton said while sipping on a PBR on the banks of the new Whitewater Park. “You can boat in a safe way, or you can boat in an unsafe way. If beer makes it unsafe, then you’ve got a problem. Most people are OK boating with beer.”
As part of the Animas River management plan, the city of Durango is placing new signs at eight popular river put-ins, from Oxbow Park in the north to Dallabetta Park in the south. The signs provide a river map that notes legal places to get off the river and various warnings, including one against open containers.
The signs are meant to reduce conflicts between property owners and river users.
“We’re making a lot of strides toward addressing those concerns,” said Cathy Metz, director of the city’s Parks & Recreation Department.
The city has park and river rangers who patrol put-ins. Parks & Rec also is developing a “river ambassadors” program. Volunteer paddlers would patrol the river, offering sunscreen or help to those in need but also able to call authorities if necessary.
“We haven’t worked out all the details, but it’s coming,” Metz said.
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