The Crystal: It’s Time to Protect One of the West’s Last Free-Flowing Rivers
This article first appear in our Winter 2023 issue of Wild Works
Originating in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness and merging with the Roaring Fork River in Carbondale, the pristine waters and surrounding lands of the Crystal create one of the most picturesque valleys in Western Colorado.
The upper Crystal is an intact ecosystem sustained by annual spring runoff with flushing flows along the banks and saturated riparian wetlands. This seasonal runoff is a unique feature in the West, as so many rivers have been dammed, robbed of their natural cycle of peak springtime flows.
As one of the last free-flowing waterways in the West, the Crystal River deserves the gold standard for protection.
For many years, Wilderness Workshop has worked to protect the Crystal River in its free-flowing state. Since the spring of 2023, WW has been a key participant in a stakeholder process designed to secure lasting safeguards for the upper Crystal.
The Crystal River Wild and Scenic and Other Alternatives Feasibility Collaborative is made up of a cross-section of community members along the river and includes passionate individuals with a wide variety of opinions and backgrounds: ranchers, fisherman, hikers and landowners. Despite this range of backgrounds, the group agrees on one thing–no one wants to see the Crystal degraded.
Above: The Crystal Mill, one of the most photographed sites in Colorado, lies on the upper Crystal River, above Marble. Photo courtesy of Matt Annabel.
The group has identified and studied seven different approaches to protect the river. A Wild and Scenic designation is one of those seven options, and it has garnered the most interest and support from the community. Wild and Scenic designation is the most durable form of protection against dams and out-of-basin diversions, and would allow our community to customize the legislation to fit the unique ecology of the Crystal and interests of our community. Other approaches at the top of the list include intergovernmental agreements, Special Management Areas and Outstanding Waters designations. But none are as flexible, and durable, as Wild and Scenic.
After analyzing input from an October community summit, the Collaborative will explore areas of agreement and make a recommendation on how to move forward. Wilderness Workshop is working to ensure any recommendation includes strong protections for high flows on the Crystal River and a path forward for Wild and Scenic designation, while ensuring the concerns of local residents continue to be respected and addressed.
If the Crystal gets a Wild and Scenic designation, it will be the second river in Colorado to get the honor. The only other river is the Cache la Poudre River, west of Fort Collins.
