A River Reborn

 

Last night, there was a public meeting in Granby explaining the details of the new channel that will be built around Windy Gap Reservoir. This new channel will reconnect the Colorado River for the first time in over thirty-five years, and will in effect create over a mile of new river.  This "connectivity channel" has been dreamt of for almost as long as the negative impacts of Windy Gap became apparent.  But near the end of the evening's presentation, an unexpected piece of news was revealed that gave the night a very bittersweet twinge. 

  If you don't know, Windy Gap reservoir was built on the Upper Colorado River in 1985 by Northern Water to supply drinking water to growing communities along the Front Range.  Although the dam that was created doesn't look like a very imposing structure, its had an outsize effect on the Colorado River.  The "lake" itself that the dam creates is not large, but its very shallow and has the effect of warming the river water.  It also blocks passage of bugs, fish and sediment, and was also the trigger to the outbreak of whirling disease in the 1990's that had a devastating impact on Colorado's rainbow trout population. 

For thirty years, residents of Grand County have been trying to scientifically prove the deleterious effects of the reservoir, and for the last twenty have advocated for a fix to the problem.  That solution was to create a free-flowing stretch of river to run alongside the reservoir.  This effort was led in part by a man named Bud Isaacs.  Bud was a successful oilman who bought property along the river to feed his love of fishing, only to see the river's vitality diminish in the years after Windy Gap went online.  There is an excellent book about this whole story called "Oil and Water", written by Stephen Grace which goes into all of this in detail. 

I wasn't a good friend of Bud's, but I did take him on a fishing float years ago on my stretch of the Colorado fifty miles downstream from his.  We've stayed in touch irregularly since, since he's on my contact list of people that I send my infrequent blog posts to.  He's often sent me a short appreciation of whatever it is I wrote about. Since getting feedback like that is the whole reason that I write in the first place, I've always liked knowing that someone was reading my missives and enjoying them. 

Even though the connectivity channel, or Windy Gap Bypass as its also been called, has been talked about for years, its only been in the last few years that its really picked up steam.  As its inched closer to reality, my sense of excitement has only increased.  There are a lot of dams in this country that just shouldn't exist at all, or were built with short-term goals in mind that didn't take into account the long-term or collateral effects they've caused.  This might be effects like blocking salmon migrations, or evaporating precious water by being built in the desert, or just by drowning healthy ecosystems.  The problem is that dams are big, expensive projects, and once in place they are very difficult to get rid of.  That is what make the Windy Gap Bypass so unique, the river is being restored but the dam and its functionality will remain, albeit it in an altered form.  It will be a win/win scenario that should ultimately satisfy everyone, a very rare outcome in our contentious world. 

 

Last night was set to be the public debut of the Windy Gap Connectivity Channel.  After years of planning  and rumors, the actual design was unveiled along with the timeline for getting it done.  I received notices from the Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited with the meeting details, and planned on driving up to Grand County to attend.  Then last week, I got an email from Bud Isaacs also letting me know about the public meeting. He was hoping that might be able to go and lend another voice of support to the project.  I told him that I was going to go, work and weather permitting, and that I was looking forward to seeing him.  He responded by mentioning something that I had forgotten, but he hadn't.  A few years earlier at the annual TU dinner at Devil's Thumb Ranch, Bud had been staked out near the front door selling signed copies of "Oil and Water".  Later that evening, I was asked to say a few words about the float trip I was donating, and used the opportunity to advocate for Bud's book.  I told the attendees that if they hadn't read "Oil and Water", they should.  I also said that a copy of the book should be given to every high school student in Grand County, and to everyone moving in or buying property there.  Apparently Bud liked that plug.  In the email I got from him the day before the public meeting, he wrote, "Thanks, it has been a long battle.  Write a short positive response to the address on the notice,  we need all the help we can get, you are the river, so it should mean a lot from you.   Thanks, Bud".

Yesterday a snow storm blew in, and the thought of making the drive to Grand County in that wasn't very appealing.  A few weeks ago I drove to Winter Park to ski, and ran my Sequoia off the Trough Road and into a snowbank in the process.  So instead I did the Zoom thing and attended the meeting virtually, which was better than not going, and definitely better than digging my truck out of snowbank.

The meeting began right on time at six pm, and the presenter's Powerpoint had lots of great details including maps and a very long list of the expected long-term benefits of the soon-to-be free flowing river. The connectivity channel itself was not a mere pathway for the river, but looked like it would have meanders, riffles and pools, as well as a presumably healthy population of insects and fish someday.  With a little imagination, one could visualize standing in the middle of it, flyrod in hand. At the end, there was an opportunity for people to ask questions and comment on it.  I chipped in my two cents, congratulating everyone involved for being able to put together such a unique and ambitious project. I only wished that I could be there in person, and to shake the hands of those that were responsible, primarily Bud. 

Then a gentlemen named Tony Kay who was involved with this crazy idea from the beginning got up to say that Bud Isaacs had also called him asking him to attend.  He said that he was on his way over Berthoud Pass when he had heard that Bud had passed away earlier that day of a heart attack.  This was the most shocking thing I'd ever heard over a Zoom meeting, or in any other venue. The man who was most responsible for the restoration of the Upper Colorado River was no longer with us, or able to bask in the glory of a job very well done.  Bud should have been there to receive well-deserved handshakes and pats on the back but was instead gone.  It was like Moses leading his people to freedom, but not getting to enjoy that fruits of that freedom himself.

So someday soon, the river will live again.  The long-term benefits of that will long outlive me and anyone else who is reading these words.  But it seems a cruel twist of fate that the man most responsible for that happening will not get to wet a line himself in the river he helped create.  It underscores the small amount of time we get to be on this planet, and how hard it is to leave it in better condition than how we found it.  It's too late to thank Bud for his efforts, but not too late to thank those for carrying the baton forward.  So to anyone who played a role in this project, whether it be the planning of it or its upcoming implementation, thank you!  And remember to tip your hat to Bud next year if you find yourself in the middle of the river he helped create.

Jack Bombardier

"May simple joys in wild places enrich your life" - Bud's inscription in my copy of "Oil and Water"

 

          Photo of Bud landing a fishing in the Colorado River by Joe Amon, Denver Post 

 

              Note : The slides that accompanied the presentation can be found at, 

                     file:///C:/Users/Jack/AppData/Local/Temp/AppendixB.pdf 

 

     Slide #10 is the one that shows the new configuration of the river and reservoir