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ENLARGE
Energy consultant Randy Udall, left, explains the potential for a microhydroelectric facility capturing the energy of Rapid Creek in Marble. The creek plunges through rugged terrain in the valley behind Udall and the group of Pitkin County officials and others who visited the site on Thursday, May 21.
MARBLE, Colo. — A proposed land swap with the U.S. Forest Service could give the public new access to a lake above Marble and open the door to a small hydroelectric plant in the upper Crystal River Valley.
Larry Darien’s 185-acre ranch near Marble has been in his family since his father and two uncles acquired the property from the estate of Redstone coal magnate John Osgood in 1938. Much of the ranch has been placed under a conservation easement through the involvement of Aspen Valley Land Trust, Pitkin County and other entities.
It has been more than two decades, Darien said, since the family was first approached about the potential for a micro-hydroelectric plant on their scenic property beneath Chair Mountain, but nothing has come of the idea yet.
Now, a land trade just might make the project possible. It has been packaged with two other land deals, including the proposed swap of the Sutey Ranch north of Carbondale for BLM land at the base of Mount Sopris near Carbondale, that proponents hope to take to Congress for approval.
Marble, in the upper Crystal River Valley south of Redstone, is in northern Gunnison County, but is more closely tied, geographically, to the Roaring Fork Valley than it is to its home county. Pitkin County commissioners and open space officials, on a site visit to view the Sutey Ranch and BLM parcels Thursday, stopped at Darien’s spread, as well.
Any input Pitkin County might offer on the Darien land swap will be forwarded to Gunnison County commissioners, said Patti Clapper, chairwoman of the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners.
The proposed swap would exchange 102 acres of Forest Service property for a 1-acre site owned by the Dariens that contains the currently gated trailhead to Lily Lake. The diversion project isn’t expected to require 102 acres, but that’s the square that has been drawn on a map.
Public access to the 102 acres would be maintained, but the trade would clear the way for construction of a diversion structure on Rapid Creek, on which the Dariens already own water rights. The water would plunge 900 vertical feet in a pipe to power a generator in a small power plant on the Darien property, explained consultant Randy Udall, former director of the Aspen- and Carbondale-based Community Office for Resource Efficiency. The diverted water would be returned to Rapid Creek above its confluence with the Crystal.
The $500,000 project, which would require building the diversion and pipeline in the rugged terrain of the Ragged Mountains above Marble, would produce an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, Udall said.
That’s more electricity than produced by all of the existing solar projects in the Roaring Fork Valley combined, he said.
In the spring, when the creek is raging, the project might generate enough electricity for 200 homes, compared to 40 to 50 in the wintertime, Udall said.
“It would be one of the larger hydro projects we’ve been able to do around here,” Udall said. “All I can say is, this is one of the nicer hydro projects we’ve looked at in 10 years of looking at them.”
It would also be a challenging one, requiring the use of a bulldozer in rough terrain that could result in some scarring of the landscape until revegetation takes hold, Udall said.
The project could produce $60,000 to $70,000 worth of energy annually to be sold to Holy Cross Energy, once the cost of installing the system is paid off, Udall said. Grants and possible participation by Holy Cross would be explored, he added.
“Will it make Larry a rich man? No,” Udall said.
The challenges of constructing the diversion could mean it won’t happen even if the land exchange does, though the trailhead would be opened to the public regardless, county commissioners were told.
It’s about a mile to Lily Lake from the Darien trailhead. The other route to access the lake, on the Placita Trail south of Redstone, involves about a three-hour hike with a grueling uphill segment, according to Darien.
janet@aspentimes.com
Larry Darien’s 185-acre ranch near Marble has been in his family since his father and two uncles acquired the property from the estate of Redstone coal magnate John Osgood in 1938. Much of the ranch has been placed under a conservation easement through the involvement of Aspen Valley Land Trust, Pitkin County and other entities.
It has been more than two decades, Darien said, since the family was first approached about the potential for a micro-hydroelectric plant on their scenic property beneath Chair Mountain, but nothing has come of the idea yet.
Now, a land trade just might make the project possible. It has been packaged with two other land deals, including the proposed swap of the Sutey Ranch north of Carbondale for BLM land at the base of Mount Sopris near Carbondale, that proponents hope to take to Congress for approval.
Marble, in the upper Crystal River Valley south of Redstone, is in northern Gunnison County, but is more closely tied, geographically, to the Roaring Fork Valley than it is to its home county. Pitkin County commissioners and open space officials, on a site visit to view the Sutey Ranch and BLM parcels Thursday, stopped at Darien’s spread, as well.
Any input Pitkin County might offer on the Darien land swap will be forwarded to Gunnison County commissioners, said Patti Clapper, chairwoman of the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners.
The proposed swap would exchange 102 acres of Forest Service property for a 1-acre site owned by the Dariens that contains the currently gated trailhead to Lily Lake. The diversion project isn’t expected to require 102 acres, but that’s the square that has been drawn on a map.
Public access to the 102 acres would be maintained, but the trade would clear the way for construction of a diversion structure on Rapid Creek, on which the Dariens already own water rights. The water would plunge 900 vertical feet in a pipe to power a generator in a small power plant on the Darien property, explained consultant Randy Udall, former director of the Aspen- and Carbondale-based Community Office for Resource Efficiency. The diverted water would be returned to Rapid Creek above its confluence with the Crystal.
The $500,000 project, which would require building the diversion and pipeline in the rugged terrain of the Ragged Mountains above Marble, would produce an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, Udall said.
That’s more electricity than produced by all of the existing solar projects in the Roaring Fork Valley combined, he said.
In the spring, when the creek is raging, the project might generate enough electricity for 200 homes, compared to 40 to 50 in the wintertime, Udall said.
“It would be one of the larger hydro projects we’ve been able to do around here,” Udall said. “All I can say is, this is one of the nicer hydro projects we’ve looked at in 10 years of looking at them.”
It would also be a challenging one, requiring the use of a bulldozer in rough terrain that could result in some scarring of the landscape until revegetation takes hold, Udall said.
The project could produce $60,000 to $70,000 worth of energy annually to be sold to Holy Cross Energy, once the cost of installing the system is paid off, Udall said. Grants and possible participation by Holy Cross would be explored, he added.
“Will it make Larry a rich man? No,” Udall said.
The challenges of constructing the diversion could mean it won’t happen even if the land exchange does, though the trailhead would be opened to the public regardless, county commissioners were told.
It’s about a mile to Lily Lake from the Darien trailhead. The other route to access the lake, on the Placita Trail south of Redstone, involves about a three-hour hike with a grueling uphill segment, according to Darien.
janet@aspentimes.com
