{"id":15729,"date":"2025-11-10T19:35:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T02:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-seeks-bids-for-102k-river-rehab-project\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:50:58","slug":"dolores-seeks-bids-for-102k-river-rehab-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-seeks-bids-for-102k-river-rehab-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores seeks bids for $102K river rehab project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The river on a rainy October day in the Dolores Community Center\u2019s backyard. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The town of Dolores is allocating $102,000 to smooth out tricky sections along the Dolores River and rebuild fish habitat near Joe Rowell Park.<\/p>\n

The town is seeking proposals from river restoration contractors for the Fishing Is Fun grant-funded project, which will add new features, reinforce older in-stream structures, and stabilize and upgrade banks where anglers enter the water.<\/p>\n

Part of this year\u2019s project builds on previous Fishing Is Fun efforts, and Dolores Town Manager Leigh Reeves said proposals will be accepted through Nov. 19. A contractor will likely be selected by early December.<\/p>\n

The work is fully funded by a Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant awarded annually to support fishing access and habitat improvements. The program has run for 38 years and awards about $650,000 each year. CPW announced Monday that the deadline for 2026 Fishing Is Fun applications is Jan. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

Reeves said the construction window is expected to begin as early as December and continue through March, during low river flows, but it won\u2019t be a \u201ccompletely frozen space.\u201d The work could take two to three weeks.<\/p>\n

The core of the project focuses on rehabilitating fish habitat by reconstructing or reinforcing J-hooks, rock vanes and boulder clusters, along with some vegetation restoration. The in-stream features won\u2019t affect river flow in ways that harm banks or downstream properties. Reeves called the 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers \u201ca big deal,\u201d requiring environmental review, analysis and documentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe really important thing for people to understand is this is a no-rise solution, right?\u201d she said. \u201cWe are working in spaces where we\u2019re reinforcing the J-hooks that are there. It doesn\u2019t change anything in the river.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project aims to enhance fishing access, especially at high-use points like the Dolores Public Library. Reeves said the current stairs by the library weren\u2019t designed as an entryway, but people use them that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019ll happen up in Riverside, too. We\u2019ll reduce some of those entryways into the river for fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proposals are due by 4 p.m. Nov. 19 to leigh@townofdolores.com<\/a>. The town requests a cost analysis that breaks down materials, labor, equipment, mobilization and contingencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nov. 19 for no-rise project through CPW\u2019s Fishing is Fun grant program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15729"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19812,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15729\/revisions\/19812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15729"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}