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A sign marking the propsed Roaring Fork Conservancy against a clear blue sky Saturday morning near Old Pond Park in Basalt. (Paul Conrad/The Aspen Times)
BASALT — A non-profit conservation group is planning an education center that could be as important to Basalt as the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies is to Aspen.
Roaring Fork Conservancy officials say their river education center will be unparalleled in Colorado and a popular draw for the small town.
The conservancy invested $400,000 in a site next to the Taqueria el Nopal restaurant and Old Pond Park in 2005. It has slowly been collecting ideas for a unique and eye-catching center, which will be designed by renowned architect Harry Teague.
The Roaring Fork Conservancy is dedicated to protecting the water quantity and quality in the vast Roaring Fork watershed, which includes the Crystal and Fryingpan valleys. It also promotes protection of the watershed ecosystem. The organization celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year.
The conservancy is holding a public meeting at the Eagle County Community Center in El Jebel at 7 p.m. Tuesday to unveil its planning for the center and collect opinions on what people want to see in the facility.
Executive Director Rick Lofaro said the center has an ideal site. The 16,000-square-foot lot is a stone's throw from the Roaring Fork River, wetlands, the namesake pond of Old Pond Park and, a bit farther away, the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Lake Christine. Nature will provide a fabulous laboratory right outside the center's door, he said.
The organization hasn't determined how big of river center to build, so it hasn't determined a cost, Lofaro said. It is engaged in a "quiet campaign" to raise funds from private donors, he said. A public campaign likely will be launched in summer 2007.
While the organization won't have a design to unveil on Tuesday, officials have toured the country to check out similar facilities. "We've done a lot of work on this already that the public doesn't know about," Lofaro said.
Desires from the public will help determine the design and size of the building. The conservancy will relocate its offices to the new building rather than continue to rent space in downtown Basalt. The facility also will feature classrooms, lab space and lots of exhibits. The displays will include some type of live feature - like an aquarium or fresh water trout stream, Lofaro said.
It will be an ideal facility where school buses unload students, they perform some work in a class, then head outside to collect bugs and vegetation.
In that way, its sort of like the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies' headquarters at Hallam Lake. The conservancy's river center, however, will be more narrow in focus, Lofaro said.
The river center won't be for kids only. He envisions it as a place where anglers visiting Basalt might stop for information on flows and hatches. Kayakers might check it out before launching at Old Pond Park.
And the displays and exhibits will share a wealth of information even longtime locals don't realize about the Roaring Fork watershed, Lofaro said. For example, he mused, how many locals realize that 40 percent of the Roaring Fork River's water doesn't make it to Aspen because of diversions?
Tuesday's meeting is open to the public. The conservancy asks people planning to attend to R.S.V.P. by calling 927-1290.
Scott Condon's e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com.
Roaring Fork Conservancy officials say their river education center will be unparalleled in Colorado and a popular draw for the small town.
The conservancy invested $400,000 in a site next to the Taqueria el Nopal restaurant and Old Pond Park in 2005. It has slowly been collecting ideas for a unique and eye-catching center, which will be designed by renowned architect Harry Teague.
The Roaring Fork Conservancy is dedicated to protecting the water quantity and quality in the vast Roaring Fork watershed, which includes the Crystal and Fryingpan valleys. It also promotes protection of the watershed ecosystem. The organization celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year.
The conservancy is holding a public meeting at the Eagle County Community Center in El Jebel at 7 p.m. Tuesday to unveil its planning for the center and collect opinions on what people want to see in the facility.
Executive Director Rick Lofaro said the center has an ideal site. The 16,000-square-foot lot is a stone's throw from the Roaring Fork River, wetlands, the namesake pond of Old Pond Park and, a bit farther away, the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Lake Christine. Nature will provide a fabulous laboratory right outside the center's door, he said.
The organization hasn't determined how big of river center to build, so it hasn't determined a cost, Lofaro said. It is engaged in a "quiet campaign" to raise funds from private donors, he said. A public campaign likely will be launched in summer 2007.
While the organization won't have a design to unveil on Tuesday, officials have toured the country to check out similar facilities. "We've done a lot of work on this already that the public doesn't know about," Lofaro said.
Desires from the public will help determine the design and size of the building. The conservancy will relocate its offices to the new building rather than continue to rent space in downtown Basalt. The facility also will feature classrooms, lab space and lots of exhibits. The displays will include some type of live feature - like an aquarium or fresh water trout stream, Lofaro said.
It will be an ideal facility where school buses unload students, they perform some work in a class, then head outside to collect bugs and vegetation.
In that way, its sort of like the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies' headquarters at Hallam Lake. The conservancy's river center, however, will be more narrow in focus, Lofaro said.
The river center won't be for kids only. He envisions it as a place where anglers visiting Basalt might stop for information on flows and hatches. Kayakers might check it out before launching at Old Pond Park.
And the displays and exhibits will share a wealth of information even longtime locals don't realize about the Roaring Fork watershed, Lofaro said. For example, he mused, how many locals realize that 40 percent of the Roaring Fork River's water doesn't make it to Aspen because of diversions?
Tuesday's meeting is open to the public. The conservancy asks people planning to attend to R.S.V.P. by calling 927-1290.
Scott Condon's e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com.
