Transcript Hermosa Creek A ‘One TU’ Initiative

Sustaining chapters through leveraging money,
partnerships and collaboration
Hermosa: For the next generation
of sportsmen and sportswomen
For habitat
For a creek
For cutthroat For a community
For wildlife
Forever!
A Question of Wild and Scenic
 2006 - The San Juan Nat’l Forest Draft Plan
 Numerous local rivers found to be ‘preliminarily
suitable’ for W/S designation
 Hermosa Creek
 Upper San Juan
 Pine/Vallecito
 Piedra
 Upper Animas (Alpine Triangle)
 Standard public comment sought by USFS
Colorado’s Constitution – trouble?
 W/S is the river equivalent to Wilderness for public
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land – prevents human development (dams)
W/S comes with an automatic Federal Reserve water
right – to honor the value being protected with W/S
To abdicate CO water to the ‘Feds’ is something our
Constitution, and water developers, can’t support
This is why the Poudre is our only W/S river
OH, NJ and even Puerto Rico have more W/S rivers
Conservation community wants W/S designations
Water development folks do not
What to do? Fight? Lawsuits?
 Public comments sure to be conflicting
 Thousands of comments likely
 Time consuming for the USFS
 Years of debates/fights
 Costly!
 Confrontational
 Possible lawsuits costing agency more $
TU to the rescue!
A 5 Rivers chapter board member comes
up with a plan!
The Rivers Protection Workgroup (RPW)
 Chuck Wanner goes to the CWCB, FS and SWWCD
 “Let’s work this out as a collaborative, as stakeholders
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and avoid the fighting, costs and problems”
Water developers, USFS and conservation community
agree – “WORK IT OUT”
A steering committee is formed
A process is created – ‘The Hermosa Process’
Outreach is performed
A workgroup is created
Funding must be obtained!!!
The ‘Process’
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Anyone with an interest is welcome; ‘a stakeholder’
Open and transparent
Operate on consensus, not votes
Values-based decisions (what value are we trying to protect?)
Protect the value while allowing for water development to
occur or continue
Look for alternatives to W/S, if additional protections are
needed at all
Colorado River Cutts are the ORV
All “tools” available are an option, including W/S
Developers agree to support one W/S river, if other
development opportunities are not hindered
Each ‘suitable’ segment gets its own workgroup; 5 in all
Hermosa is first, the ‘test’
Putting TU’s chapter money to work
 Locally raised money employed for local rivers
 Seed money for a large collaborative effort
 Partnering with others for our rivers & public land
 Gov’t agencies (state, fed, county)
 Water buffalos
 Traditional enviro groups
 Other user groups (OHV, mountain bikers, miners etc…)
 Rivers being discussed are our “bread and butter”
 Give the TU funders something tangible!!
 Give your volunteers something to ‘work for, fight for’
 Hermosa has long-been a focus for all of TU’s programs
‘ONE TU’
 5 Rivers (Chuck and volunteers)
 Steering committee member
 Creator of the process
 Funding source – 5 Rivers - $7000 over six years
 Mely Whiting for CO Water Project
 W/S rivers are her specialty, her objective
 Our workgroup’s on-call water law advisor
 Legislative drafting committee
 Myself for Sportsmen’s Conservation Project
 public lands program
 wilderness/roadless objective
Leveraging chapter $$
 ‘Rivers Protection Workgroup’ needed funding
 Facilitation can be horribly expensive
 Five separate workgroups over six+ years
 Cost $140,000
 5 Rivers commits first - seed money - $1000
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CWCB
SWWCD
Wilderness Society
San Juan Citizen’s Alliance
Nat’l Forest Foundation
S. Ute Indian Tribe
Hermosa – TU has been committed
 SCP’s (then PLI’s) Hermosa Media Tour - 2008
 Home to CPW’s most important and largest native CRCT
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reintroduction program - (1991-present)
‘Outstanding Waters’ designation for highest natural water
quality (CWQCC) - 2009
‘On the Rise’ episode – 2010
Two, ongoing Embrace-a-Stream restoration projects – 5R
The poster child for CO’s Roadless Rule (largest in CO)
A primary source of diluting clean waters for the Animas’
metal-laden toxic mess
Advocacy for land swap of the only inholding - 2009
A Durango area recreational treasure
Hermosa RPW comes up with a
proposal – Consensus!
 A public land proposal – SCP objective
 A legislative protection proposal
 It takes an act of Congress
 Funders LOVE permanence (sustain Nat’l funding)
 Locals see their money succeeding (sustain support
from local donors/retailers/members for chapter)
 Big media opportunities
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Social media fodder (Facebook highlights)
CTU, NTU and 5 Rivers blogs
“Keep TU relevant” in the news
 Wild/Scenic component coming, SOON!
The Hermosa Creek Watershed
Protection Act - 2013
 1st entire watershed bill, ever!
 Basin divided into 3 zones
 Special Management Area
 Roadless Area
 Wilderness
 Set-backs for W/S designation
 Honors historic uses
 Mining claims grandfathered
 Main trail stays ‘mechanized’
 Win, win, win!!!
Sportsmen for Hermosa – will
Congressman Tipton listen to us?
 TU leads a coalition of sportsmen in support
 CTU/5 Rivers
 SCP
 BHA
 TRCP
 Bull Moose
 Nat’l Wildlife Fed
 Fly shops
 Guides/outfitters
 Rod manufacturers
 Project Healing Waters
Another example from the Animas basin
 Animas River Stakeholder’s Group
 20 year collaborative working on mine restoration and
acid mine drainage – water quality
 TU a long-time participant
 5 Rivers
 E. Russell’s mine restoration program
 Sportsmen’s Conservation Project
 Alpine Triangle
Partners of the ARSG –TU working
alongside agency, industry & miners
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CO Water Quality Control Commission
BLM
EPA
Dept. of Reclamation, Mining and Safety
SW Water Conservation District
San Juan County
Sunnyside Gold Corp
Colorado Goldfields
Kinross
Mountain Studies Institute
San Juan Citizen’s Alliance
Chapter money partnered with
miners?
 How to fund an Innocentive Challenge?
 Three TU entities bring seed money
 $2000
 5 Rivers, SCP, Watersheds
 Kinross matches $2500
 TU as financial partners with one of the world’s largest
mining conglomerates from Canada
 Working TOGETHER to resolve the Animas’ water
quality problems
Alpine Triangle Ranger (OHV)
 Off highway vehicle patrol for one of
TU’s most important resources
 5 TU entities help fund
 GGA
 5 Rivers
 Lake City (defunct) chapter
 Sportsmen Ride Right
 SCP
 Relationship builder w/ counties
 Tom Reyburn is a life member of TU
and Backcountry Hunters/Anglers
5 Rivers putting money to work
 The 9th Street Project
 2009
 Partnered with:
 City of Dgo
 Animas Riverkeeper
 5 Rivers seed money
 $8000
 CWCB/Riverkeepers - $5000
 Fishing is Fun - $85,000
 City of Durango - $30,000
Share your successes!!!!
 Stay relevant in your community!!!
 Relationships are massively important!
 Provide regular updates to local and regular funders
 Make sure members and donors see your efforts,
successes and accomplishments
 Seek regular media
 Gotta Facebook, that’s just the way it is (for now)
 Websites are static, not interactive, not visited
 Can easily engage others who are not members
 Blog, post, get photos up…
 “Thank your donors and volunteers”
Questions?