by Scott Willoughby, Colorado Coordinator for TU’s Angler Conservation Program

Colorado Trout Unlimited rang in the New Year by playing a prominent role in pushing back a proposed industrial gravel mine along a section of the upper Colorado River that many anglers, hunters and wildlife watchers consider nothing short of “sacred."

“It’s an open landscape, it feels untouched,” Ben McCormick, TU member and owner of the Cutthroat Anglers fly fishing shop in Silverthorne told the Eagle County Planning Commission during a 6-hour Zoom meeting to determine the fate of the Colorado River near Dotsero on January 6. “When you think about the pressure and the crowds and everything that’s going on on the upper Colorado, it couldn’t be more important that we protect this section. It truly is sacred.”

McCormick was one of almost 40 locals who endured the marathon meeting to speak out against the plan by a newly formed company known as Rincon Materials to remove some 225,000 tons of gravel per year from a privately owned 107-acre parcel abutting the popular Dotsero Landing boat launch purchased through Eagle County Open Space tax funding and managed for recreational access by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. McCormick said that Cutthroat Anglers runs 200 float fishing trips per year down the Colorado River to Dotsero, and he is hardly alone.

Encouraged by the local Eagle Valley Trout Unlimited chapter, which submitted written comments along with verbal testimony in opposition to the mine, several members of the surrounding angling and guiding community spoke out against the plan to dig multiple pits along the river corridor adjacent to the 38-acre Dewey Park conservation easement just downstream from the mouth of the Deep Creek Wild & Scenic River nomination. Among them, Confluence Casting guide service owner Jack Bombardier, who lives and works just upstream of the proposed mine site, offered a passionate emotional plea published in the local Vail Daily newspaper noting that the Rincon Mine proposal “crosses a line.”

“Considering the outdoor recreation and agricultural value of this area, putting an industrial site at its gateway makes no sense,” Bombardier stated. “It will permanently alter the landscape while benefiting very few.”

Ultimately, the Eagle County Planning Commission agreed, voting 4-2 against awarding both a special use permit for the sand and gravel pit that would scar the hillside for decades to come and an exemption from the Dotsero Area Community Plan guiding land use in the area as part of the Eagle County Comprehensive Plan. Eagle County staff had previously recommended denial of the special use permit and exemption, stating that the proposed mine was not in conformance with the plan’s stated intention of maintaining the open nature and agricultural character of the river corridor in an effort to promote conservation and recreation over industrial uses.

Since 2011, the Eagle County Open Space program has invested more than $10 million in local property tax revenue to acquire multiple parcels of now public lands and boat launches along the Colorado River between Dotsero and State Bridge, coordinating complex deals with ranching landowners as well as state and federal agencies with the promise of enhanced recreational access and an emphasis on conservation throughout the popular trout fishery.

But it was local community activism largely led by members of the angling community that ultimately sealed the deal.

“I was not in agreement with the county staff report the last time we met on this,” Eagle County Planning Commissioner Tim Carpenter said before voting to deny the required permit. “With all the public comment I have heard, I have reevaluated my first view on this.”