Closed Boat Ramp on Roaring Fork @ Carbondale

[gforce]

FYI, The boatramp and acess to the roaring fork river just below the Carbondale bridge has been closed off by the land owner.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The Colorado DOW did not get the lease renewed in time for the fishing and floating season. They had a 10 year lease that expired this year. I'm not sure of the details of this oversight but it is imperitive that all of us call the DOW about this issue and make sure they get a long term resolution to provide access to this section of the river ASAP. I understand that the owner of the property is trying to sell it but do not know any other details.

Because of the convuluted river access laws in the state of Colorado we need to pay attention to access issues like this. River access needs to be secured for the public use of the public water in this area, please help and let your voice be known. Call or email your congressman and representative and let them know the DOW is not serving the publics needs on this issue.

Why call the Colorado DOW? the Roaring Fork in this area requires a Habitat Stamp that you pay $10.25 per year for which includes the search and rescue fee.

Taxes, Taxes, and more Taxes.

Access to State Wildlife Areas and State Trust Lands
If you are not purchasing a hunting or fishing license, but wish to visit a state wildlife area or state trust land, the stamp will cost $10.25 per individual and includes the Colorado Search and Rescue fee. The Division of Wildlife has 241 designated state wildlife areas, covering 493,400 acres and 216 state trust lands totaling 533,733 acres of land statewide.
How to contact the Colorado DOW: email: AskDOW - Colorado Division of Wildlife
call:Public Affairs 303-291-7307

Thanks for getting involved, doc

[pinemnky13]

Here is some more news on it. The DOW has been giving us the same line now for 2 months
Carbondale boat ramp expected to open this week | Aspen Daily News Online

[brendodendo]

The city of Carbnondale is thinking about purchasing this property and turning it into a park with a boat ramp. If you live in Carbondale, I encourage you to go to the parks and rec meetings in the near future. Town of Carbondale CO website click meetings tab at top

This would be the best community use of this property and the boat ramp.

[class 3 felon]

Aloha,

Well Doc, thanks for the heads up on the access at Carbondale was hoping it had cleared up, I'll do what I can, but who would listen to me eh! Barkley and I were hoping to get out there andrip some lips soon. Maybe you and Kava can join in if your free. Really would prefer to put in around Carbondal and not Westbank, whatother option do I have but El Jebel? Give me a call and let me know when your off from work.

Mark

[Kamehameha]

Is this the access to Cemetary?

[brendodendo]

Yes..

Alternate put in on Crystal River at CRMS bridge. (no claims on legality of this put in, but saw many many people there last Saturday.)

[Beardance42]

Been out of town and floating the Upper Colorado since I heard about this in late May - I was certain this would have been resolved by now.

I just checked flow and there's still decent water on the Fork. I plan to call DOW this Thurs or Fri.

Is it true they blocked off the access road w/ boulders???

[david23]

Looks to me like it should open any time now.


Carbondale boat ramp expected to open this week | Aspen Daily News Online

A popular boat ramp on the Roaring Fork River in Carbondale is expected to re-open this week for boaters and anglers.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife has reached an agreement with Stanley and Valerie Koziel, the owners of the land around the boat ramp, and a new five-year lease is expected to be signed this week.

“I’m waiting on Denver to get the OK,” said Perry Will, area manager for the DOW in Glenwood Springs. “I got an e-mail yesterday saying it looked good.” (By “Denver,” Will meant the attorneys and the real estate managers at the DOW headquarters in Denver.)

The boat ramp, just downstream from the Highway 133 bridge at the intersection with Highway 82, has been closed since May, and boaters have recently found boulders blocking the private road that leads down to the put-in.

Local rafters, kayakers and flyfishing guides have been frustrated about lack of access to the river in Carbondale, especially as the run from there to the West Bank take-out is a bread-and-butter fishing run for commercial outfitters and features friendly Class II water, making it perhaps the busiest reach on the Roaring Fork River.

“People want that boat ramp open,” Will said. “We’ve been inundated with calls, but we’ve been moving as fast as we can.”

A 10-year lease between the DOW and the Koziels expired this spring, and negotiations have been underway since then. The Koziels own both the boat ramp and the campground on the bluff above the river.

The new lease will allow for the same level of access as the old lease for both commercial and public users at the boat ramp and adjacent parking area, according to Will.

Members of the public who are launching or taking out at the area are required to have in their possession an inexpensive DOW “habitat stamp,” which is available from local outfitter shops.

One issue that had come up as part of the new lease was securing an agreement from the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority related to the Rio Grande Trail right-of-way, which runs along the access road to the boat ramp.
FTA CEO Dan Blankenship said Friday that RFTA had agreed to allow both public and private travel on the section of road within the RFTA right-of-way. The access road itself is an offshoot of Satank Road, which intersects with Highway 82 west just downvalley from the Highway 133 intersection.

The Koziels could not be reached for comment on the pending deal, but Aspen attorney Rick Neiley, who represents a coalition of local outfitters, said Friday that he had received a call from the Koziels’ attorney, Walt Brown, of Glenwood Springs, notifying him that the deal was likely to be completed Monday.

But Will said he thinks today is probably optimistic. “End of the week, hopefully,” he said.

Tim Heng, general manager of Taylor Creek Fly Shop in Basalt, said he had been told about the pending deal and that he was looking forward to being able to use the ramp again for commercial flyfishing trips.

“It has been a scramble,” Heng said. “We haven’t fished the Fork as much as we could have.”

Another boat ramp at West Bank, downstream of Carbondale, is leased by the DOW. Boats can also be launched at informal put-ins upstream at the Catherine Store bridge and just above the Hooks Lane bridge in Basalt.

Some outfitters have also been launching boats at the old pink Satank bridge, just downriver from the Highway 133 bridge, where there is a good eddy but a fairly primitive boat-launching point.

Neiley has been following the negotiations between the DOW and the Koziels closely. And he was talking with the Koziels about the possibility of a lease between them and the Roaring Fork Outfitters Association, which today is a loose confederation of local outfitters contemplating forming a nonprofit entity so they can sign a lease with the Koziels.

“We were willing to do it if we had to,” Neiley said, adding that he and local outfitters prefer that the DOW sign a lease.

Neiley said the closing of the ramp underscores how important it is to local users, and “raises the specter of future potential access issues” along the Roaring Fork.

Neiley also said that Carbondale is interested in purchasing the Koziel property.

“I think the town of Carbondale would like to turn the entire property into a park with a boat ramp,” he said.

[pinemnky13]

Yes there are boulders there and westbank is a zoo, Every time I called the DOW I got the whole next week thing so now I guess they are lying to the newspapers now.
I guess I'll just do the whole wait and see thing like I have been doing since Memorial Day

[J]

Anything other access for rafts to take out above carbondale? Was looking to put on in Basalt and run to Carbondale. What's that section like for a raft?