The Gunnison’s free-flowing lower reaches are largely protected within the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area (DENCA) and Bangs Canyon Special Recreation Management Area. But significant stretches of sensitive riverfront remain unprotected within the DENCA. Since 2008, WRC has been working to buy and conserve those riverlands along the river and transfer them to the BLM for permanent conservation within the DENCA. To date, we have protected over three miles of riverfront, improved access to the river and prevented what could have been a disastrous gravel mine on the banks of the Gunnison.
Upstream, above Black Canyon, we purchased a farm with senior water rights on the Little Cimarron River, a key tributary to the Cimarron and Gunnison. A stretch of the “Little Cim” often ran bone-dry in late summer, drawn down to the rock for irrigation. After buying the farm, we partnered with Colorado Water Trust and created the state’s first permanent water-sharing agreement between ag and the environment, successfully ensuring year-round flows in this critical stream.
