About 15 volunteers, including members of the Braided Fly Fishing Club and San Juan Angler, focused on downstream Saturday. Between the Durango Gun Range and Dallabetta Park, they found clothes, sleeping bags, tires, metal, alcohol containers, a laptop \u2026 the list goes on.<\/p>\n
The issue of trash along the Animas has been a concern for years. In 2016, a Fort Lewis College student group called the Water Justice Project cleaned 1,286 pounds of litter from the river banks.<\/p>\n
Glenn, who has participated in three cleanups, said trash was increasing this year along the entire stretch of river through Durango. As the manager of San Juan Angler, Glenn said customers on guided fishing outings have also noticed the refuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Animas River is the lifeblood of Durango,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a great fishery, but you have a lot of raft companies, the river trail, families \u2026 You\u2019d like to see a lot less trash.\u201d<\/p>\n
While cleaning the downstream portion Saturday, Trout Unlimited volunteers found the remains of camps and litter on the river banks farther from the water.<\/p>\n
The volunteers questioned whether the trash could be coming from people who were unhoused and camping in the area, Glenn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a sensitive subject for sure \u2026 I do understand both sides of it,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cWe just can\u2019t be out there trashing our town. We have to find a balance in there somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the designated campsite at Purple Cliffs along La Posta Road, there is a designated camper who picks up litter and is compensated by the Neighbors in Need Alliance, said Tim Sargent, camp leader at the site. Purple Cliffs also has dumpsters available to campers.<\/p>\n Others do camp in the area, and some of the trash could come from them, Sargent said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of my biggest issues, actually, because it reflects bad on everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Animas is a Gold Medal fishery for trout between the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Durango and Dallabetta Park. In that stretch, people are only legally allowed to fish with artificial flies and lures.<\/p>\n Volunteers found cans of worms and power bait \u2013 both of which are signs of illegal fishing.<\/p>\n The river has had a tough time in recent years because of ash flow from the 416 Fire and the Gold King Mine spill, Glenn said. The fish population is just beginning to recover as trash seems to increase.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just not a good scene,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019d be nice to see some kind of deeper effort into trash collection.\u201d<\/p>\n