GUNNISON, COLO. - Under a controversial agreement reached by the Department of Interior and the state of Colorado, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park will receive crucial spring water flows only if no other state entities need them.
Critics say that the plan is an unprecedented giveaway of federal water that jeopardizes the canyon, and lawyers for five citizens-groups, including Trout Unlimited and The Wilderness Society, recently filed a lawsuit seeking greater water flows for the park, claiming that the agreement is illegal. They assert that diverting the park's Gunnison River water for other uses will not leave enough water to cleanse the canyon or to protect its fish and wildlife.
"The federal government has shirked its legal obligation to preserve the natural resources of the park," said Drew Peternell, attorney with Trout Unlimited. "You can't preserve [the park] without protecting the river at its heart."
By signing the agreement, the Department of Interior backed off of a 2001 request by the previous administration to increase water flows through Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which had just been re-designated a national park. Interior officials say the earlier request would have entailed massive flow levels that could have led to shortages for farmers, power producers, and townspeople.
"This combination of federal right and state right provides excellent protection for the park," said Deputy Park Service Director Randy Jones.
Critics of the agreement, however, say that water flows that belong to the park could go instead to satisfy urban sprawl in places like Denver, about 250 miles to the northeast of the park, and that water will go to state interests that made water claims after the park reserved its rights. The possibility of Interior reaching such an agreement led NPCA to list Black Canyon of the Gunnison on its mid-term assessment of the Bush administration, caused American Rivers to name the Gunnison one of America's most endangered rivers, and angered rafters and anglers who depend on a healthy canyon.
"In a natural system, the Gunnison River would rage through the canyon in the spring, clearing out silt and non-native or overpopulated plants, and creating important habitat for trout," said Bart Miller, an attorney and Water Program Director for Western Resource Advocates. "Under the federal proposal, the natural spring peak flows crucial to the canyon's ecology would be lost."
The Interior Department agreement is the latest twist in a 25?year process to clarify the park's water rights. In 1978, a Colorado water court granted water rights to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then a national monument; the rights dated to its designation in 1933. The court did not specify how much water flow the park needed, but it stressed the need to protect "the scenic, aesthetic, natural, and historical objects of the monument and its wildlife." Black Canyon is known for its narrow opening and jagged walls - shaped by centuries of flow from the Gunnison River - and a depth of more than 2,000 feet.
Ever since its designation as a monument, the Park Service has been tasked with protecting "the roar of the river." Under this new agreement, critics say, it may no longer be able to.
"Reducing the water right takes the heart out of the park," said Charles Gauvin, president of Trout Unlimited. "It will be devastating."
"No one would think of sucking the Colorado River dry just before it enters the Grand Canyon - or allowing the development of a hard rock mine at the base of Mount Rushmore," he said. "Failing to protect the healthy water flows through Black Canyon of the Gunnison is no different."
