Pitkin County commissioners are working through the minutiae of a proposed $183.5 million budget in sessions that can be mind-numbing for elected officials, reporters covering them and any constituents brave enough to tune in.
But every now and then, nuggets emerge that transcend talks of salary and benefit packages, capital improvements and land-use plans. Tuesday was such a day when the commissioners went over the budget of the Healthy Rivers department that featured beaver stream restoration, cutthroat trout reintroduction, pursuit of wild and scenic designation of the Crystal River and efforts to improve the ecological health of the Fryingpan River.
The Healthy Rivers program was established 10 years ago with a goal of being a leader in protecting, defending and enhancing rivers and streams in Pitkin County. The program’s proposed expenditures of $1.75 million are a speck in the county’s overall budget, but still a vital part of Pitkin County’s effort to aid a flourishing natural environment. Many of the program’s efforts involve partnerships with other organizations.
For example, the program is asking the commissioners to fund $50,000 annually for up to five years for an ad hoc effort to increase winter water releases from Ruedi Reservoir to increase the flow in the lower Fryingpan River.
The Basalt-based nonprofit organization Roaring Fork Conservancy is heading an effort to raise funds to lease water in Ruedi owned by the Colorado River Water Conservation District. The water would be released during winter months to supplement minimum flows.
Lisa MacDonald of the Healthy Rivers program said low flows lead to the development of anchor ice that affect macroinvertebrates that fish depend on for food. The conservancy has pledges of $30,000 from the Colorado Water Trust, $10,000 each from Basalt, Aspen and the conservancy, $20,000 from the river district, $1,000 from the Roaring Fork Fly Fishing Guide Alliance and in excess of $152,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board for the water leasing.
The effort would raise the winter flows by more than 70 cubic feet per second, she said.
“It’s something new, something innovative to increase those winter flows,” MacDonald said.
Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury applauded the efforts for the county to get more proactive in actions to benefit the watershed. But Commissioner Steve Child questioned the strategy of increasing flows from Ruedi during winters. He noted that the reservoir doesn’t always fill during spring runoff. That can create water shortages later in the year.
“When we really need the water is to augment late-summer flows and into the fall,” Child said.
He said he would need more information before he could support a multiyear allocation but he agreed to the one-year placeholder. MacDonald said more information would be provided to the board in a work session.
Grant for EcoFlight
Shifting to another watershed initiative, commissioners ratified the Healthy River program’s board of directors’ recommendation to provide a $35,000 grant to Aspen-based nonprofit EcoFlight to provide aerial advocacy in the effort to get the upper Crystal River designated by the federal government as wild and scenic.
EcoFlight gets policymakers, media, students and stakeholders into the air for a different perspective on environmental issues. Last year, it undertook flights that provided bird’s-eye views of the upper Crystal River terrain for 85 people.
McNicholas Kury said EcoFlight has been the “glue” in the effort to seek designation for the river. The designation would provide special protections from damming and diversions that would suck water out of the basin. The designation would require an act of Congress.
Commissioner Patti Clapper summed up the board’s support for the effort.
“I think the benefit far outreaches the cost,” she said.
Habitat restoration
Fewer details were available Tuesday on a proposed partnership between the county government and U.S. Forest Service to restore beaver and cutthroat trout habitat on forest lands. The Aspen-Sopris Ranger District hopes to send two interns into the field in 2023 to identify streams worthwhile for a 20-year cutthroat restoration effort and beaver expansion.
Parts of the Roaring Fork watershed are home to beavers, as hikers can attest. North Star Nature Preserve has seen an increase in beaver activity that coincides with improvements to wetlands. Beaver activity is beneficial to wild lands because of the wetlands created by their dams.
MacDonald said more information about the habitat expansion program would be presented to commissioners in a future work session. $50,000 was being sought for both the beaver and fish restoration efforts.
“We wanted to put funds in 2023 as a placeholder,” she said.
The commissioners approved the allocation conditioned on further review.
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