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Dear Editor:
As a resident of Pitkin County and former director of the Colorado River Headwaters Project, I urge all Pitkin County voters to support Referendum IA, which will create a Healthy Rivers and Streams Fund.
Here’s why. The 2007-08 ski season was epic. It was great to shred the powder, and it left the Roaring Fork Valley with plenty of water throughout the spring and summer seasons. Being only humans, however, we tend to forget the past all too quickly, as we hope and dream of more big snowfalls to come this year. The year 2002 was the height of the 100-year drought in Colorado (from 1999-2004). The Roaring Fork River ran dry as it made its way through Aspen. The Ducky Derby was run on dry land. Large trout were trapped in dwindling and unconnected pools of water, and many died. The riparian habitat through Aspen and upstream was stressed, and species that depend on flowing water suffered as a result.
As responsible citizens of this beautiful valley, we must not let this happen, again.
Through the efforts of Pitkin County, the city of Aspen, and nonprofits such as Roaring Fork Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy and others, solutions to future droughts have been identified. Although the water laws in Colorado are not that friendly to keeping sustainable flows in the rivers and streams, Aspen and Pitkin County can assure its residents of flowing water in the Roaring Fork at all times. But, to implement these solutions, it is going to cost money — in some cases, a substantial amount of money. Funds raised by Referendum 1A will be used to purchase or lease water rights and obtain expert engineering and legal resources to maintain ecologically sustainable flows in the Roaring Fork River, as it passes through Aspen and Pitkin County. A river is not a river without water. Aspen is not Aspen without water flowing in the Roaring Fork. Vote “Yes” on Referendum 1A to keep the water flowing.
Albert J. Slap
Aspen
As a resident of Pitkin County and former director of the Colorado River Headwaters Project, I urge all Pitkin County voters to support Referendum IA, which will create a Healthy Rivers and Streams Fund.
Here’s why. The 2007-08 ski season was epic. It was great to shred the powder, and it left the Roaring Fork Valley with plenty of water throughout the spring and summer seasons. Being only humans, however, we tend to forget the past all too quickly, as we hope and dream of more big snowfalls to come this year. The year 2002 was the height of the 100-year drought in Colorado (from 1999-2004). The Roaring Fork River ran dry as it made its way through Aspen. The Ducky Derby was run on dry land. Large trout were trapped in dwindling and unconnected pools of water, and many died. The riparian habitat through Aspen and upstream was stressed, and species that depend on flowing water suffered as a result.
As responsible citizens of this beautiful valley, we must not let this happen, again.
Through the efforts of Pitkin County, the city of Aspen, and nonprofits such as Roaring Fork Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy and others, solutions to future droughts have been identified. Although the water laws in Colorado are not that friendly to keeping sustainable flows in the rivers and streams, Aspen and Pitkin County can assure its residents of flowing water in the Roaring Fork at all times. But, to implement these solutions, it is going to cost money — in some cases, a substantial amount of money. Funds raised by Referendum 1A will be used to purchase or lease water rights and obtain expert engineering and legal resources to maintain ecologically sustainable flows in the Roaring Fork River, as it passes through Aspen and Pitkin County. A river is not a river without water. Aspen is not Aspen without water flowing in the Roaring Fork. Vote “Yes” on Referendum 1A to keep the water flowing.
Albert J. Slap
Aspen
