{"id":53669,"date":"2020-05-29T22:52:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T04:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silent-protest-raises-ruckus-over-river-rafting-shutdown\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:05:13","slug":"silent-protest-raises-ruckus-over-river-rafting-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silent-protest-raises-ruckus-over-river-rafting-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Silent protest\u2019 raises ruckus over river rafting shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango Rivertrippers & Adventure Tours\u2019 kiosk on Main Avenue in downtown Durango displays its \u201csilent protest\u201d about public health restrictions that keep professional rafting companies from operating on the Animas River.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Frustrated by the lack of clarity about when commercial rafting and other outdoor tours can begin, the owner of one rafting company is making his feelings known at his downtown Durango kiosk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to do a silent protest as a result of not having any clear pathway to opening,\u201d said David Moler, owner of Durango Rivertrippers & Adventure Tours<\/a>. \u201cGiven that we haven\u2019t been provided clear guidance and a pathway to open, we decided to do a silent protest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted commercial rafters in Chaffee County have been granted a variance from COVID-19 restrictions to run the Arkansas River, but rafting companies in La Plata County remain in limbo about when their season can begin.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime is of the essence. The river\u2019s dropping fast and so is our sanity and the health of my team and myself,\u201d Moler said.<\/p>\n

Cardboard signs taped on the kiosk included: \u201cWill Raft 4 Food,\u201d \u201c47 Unemployed,\u201d \u201cForgotten Industry,\u201d \u201cOpen Up the Outdoors,\u201d \u201cOutside is Essential\u201d and \u201cClosed by order of the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moler said he is working with La Plata County, the Durango Chamber of Commerce and a consortium of business organizations on a variance with the state that would allow the county to open outdoor businesses on its own schedule adapted to the local situation with COVID-19, but he does not know if or when the state will rule on the variance.<\/p>\n

Moler said the variance was guided by input from San Juan Basin Public Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that we have a really great variance request that would allow for 50% capacities on transportation and rafts and still allow people to get outside and recreate safely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Durango Rivertrippers, he said, has been working to adapt procedures to ensure sanitation and safety based on a self-certification checklist issued by SJBPH.<\/p>\n

It seems illogical, he said, to allow private parties to raft and kayak on rivers but not allow commercial operations with trained guides who follow strict safety procedures on the river.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t hire somebody to professionally guide you down. That makes no sense to me. We can follow all the guidelines set forth by the state and local authorities to reopen \u2013 everything from capacity limits to temperature checks to social distancing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Demand for raft trips and other outdoor recreational tours is low given the COVID-19 pandemic, but Moler said there are requests for runs from locals and frequent visitors to Southwest Colorado from surrounding states.<\/p>\n

Durango Rivertrippers is not advertising to bring tourists into the region, Moler said. Rafting companies, he said, can operate safely with moderate numbers on tours to meet existing demand. He said that would help both people already on the river and rafting companies looking to make the best of the 2020 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really in a position to say that we operate outside. We are professionals in what we do. We have taken appropriate measures set forth by state and local authorities. We\u2019re ready to provide a safe experience to locals and visiting guests alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Time is of the essence,\u2019 says owner. \u2018The river\u2019s dropping fast\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,28,29,976,1799,346,810],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-rafting","tag-sports","tag-tourism-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53669","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=53669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88338,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53669\/revisions\/88338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53669"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}