This is an awesome place of immense value to sportsmen, recreationists, resource advocates and the local economy. It\u2019s easy to see that creating the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Area would be excellent long-range vision.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the six of us in this Cessna 210 aren\u2019t the ones making the decision. Nor are those who spent several years at the bargaining table.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton and Sen. Michael Bennet are among those with the final say, and they\u2019re pulling hard for it. Both have introduced the act into their respective chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the frustration: Even they haven\u2019t been able to push through a bill that nobody on record has yet opposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s moving at a snail\u2019s pace, but it is moving,\u201d says Ty Churchwell, backcountry coordinator for Trout Unlimited and one of the movers and shakers of the plan.<\/p>\n
The problem is congressional gridlock.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Hermosa doesn\u2019t pass, it won\u2019t be because of substance,\u201d says Jeff Widen of the Wilderness Society. \u201cIt\u2019ll be because of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
So why are six of us up here flying around? The best answer is that those who\u2019ve created this bottom-up plan are leaving no stone unturned to see it through. We\u2019re in a plane owned by EcoFlight, a remarkable, Aspen-based nonprofit. It\u2019s the brainchild of pilot Bruce Gordon, who believes he can help protect wild places in the West by chauffering people for the bird\u2019s-eye view.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m here to keep this issue in the public eye.<\/p>\n
The rest of the lineup is Widen, with the Wilderness Society, who serves as our guide; Jack Llewellyn, director of the Durango Chamber of Commerce; Bill Haggerty with the Grand Junction Sentinel; and Kyle Ouzts with MercuryGives, Mercury\u2019s community outreach initiative, which has partnered with Trout Unlimited.<\/p>\n
As we head up the Animas River Valley toward Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort to begin our loop around the Hermosa watershed, we listen to Widen explain how we got to this point. In separate interviews later, Churchwell and Ed Zink, who played a key role in the plan, provide more depth. We\u2019ll skip the first 40-plus years of history.<\/p>\n
In 2008, a steering committee formed, and in the next 22 months, it painstakingly, hammered out a balanced plan. Fishermen, hunters, bikers, equestrians, motorcyclists, wilderness lovers, ranchers and water districts kept at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was reasonable,\u201d Churchwell says. But then he qualifies that, \u201cNot in the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery one of us gave up something to get something. \u2026 It was an incredible experience. It really was.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took nearly four years to craft legislation, says Widen, the Wilderness Society\u2019s senior public lands representative.<\/p>\n
Bennet and Tipton took the efforts of the Hermosa Creek Workgroup and created bills. The Senate took the first step last year by holding a subcommittee hearing, and the House did the same this year.<\/p>\n
Next is for the bill to go to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and House Natural Resources Committee for \u201cmark-up\u201d \u2013 a process where committee members can make changes. If those committees pass the bill, it goes to the full chambers for votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very hopeful it will get out of committee in the next 30 days and possibly a floor vote before August recess,\u201d says Darlene Marcus, Tipton\u2019s Durango-based representative.<\/p>\n
The House\u2019s Natural Resources chairman is Doc Hastings, R-Wash.; Widen said Natural Resources member Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has indicated he wants to move the bill. In the Senate, it\u2019s unclear how soon new Energy and Natural Resources chair, Mary Landrieu, D-La., will bring it up. It may help that Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., is a senior member of the committee and a co-sponsor.<\/p>\n
Bennet, through his Denver office, said Sunday that the bill \u201crecognizes the diverse set of people who use the space.\u201d He called Hermosa Creek \u201cone of Colorado\u2019s crown jewels.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what does the act do? For starters, it protects wildlife, much of the current trail use and water quality.<\/p>\n
Zink, a Durango native, says he actually got involved stemming from his role as secretary of the Animas Consolidated Ditch Co. The hunter, cyclist and horseman dons so many hats \u201cit wears my hair out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He likes the plan because it basically keeps land use the way it is now \u2013 and that\u2019s what the community\u2019s been asking for during the last half-century of studies and forest plans.<\/p>\n
From the air, the 107,886-acre area, which comprises nearly the entire Hermosa watershed, is an uneven green carpet of trees, with a few brown streaks of forest roads north of the East Fork and the snow-capped peaks of Hermosa and Grayrock on the northern border.<\/p>\n
The bill would create 37,236 acres of wilderness in the western portion. There would be a 68,289-acre \u201cspecial management area,\u201d with the northern chunk to be left as is, dirt roads and all. The eastern part (43,000 acres) would be protected as a roadless area but still allow mountain bikes and motorcycles.<\/p>\n
The wilderness area is excellent elk habitat and a major breeding ground, Churchwell says. I can\u2019t see that from the air, but I\u2019ll take his word. My eyes also can\u2019t see into the future when, under a state Parks and Wildlife program, the native Colorado cutthroat will live competition-free after the nonnative brookie, rainbow and cutbow trout are eliminated from some of Hermosa\u2019s upper reaches and tributaries.<\/p>\n
Churchwell points out how vital the inclusion of hunters and fishermen was in getting full community support and Tipton\u2019s backing. Another key was getting snowmobilers to support it by including a clause to allow continued use of a 460-acre area on Molas Pass.<\/p>\n
The flight goes so quickly we don\u2019t even have time to get scared about the landing. In a half-hour, we\u2019ve almost completely circled the Hermosa watershed.<\/p>\n
Wilderness bills almost always have opposition \u2013 this one doesn\u2019t. Tipton and Bennet work together sparingly, but they\u2019re totally in cahoots on this one. Seems like it should be easy, but interviews among those involved in crafting this tricky plan reveal a lot of finger-crossing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be a big celebration around here when it does (pass),\u201d Churchwell says. \u201cWhat a win for the community when we get this done. What a win for the resource.\u201d<\/p>\n