[rivermanryan]

Seems like everyone is building parks these days and I don't want my hometown of Bayfield to be left out. Today in the Durango Herald, there is an article about growth in Bayfield. http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bi...e=news&article_path=/news/05/news050110_1.htm

Bayfield is drawing up plans for a huge improvement to its parks. The park in downtown Bayfield sits right next to the Pine River (Los Pinos). This section of the Pine would be ideal for a man-made drops for playboating. It is very difficult to find a legal run on the Pine, due to large amounts of private property and it is fairly easy (Class II max) below the Vallecito Area. However, there is still a gradient to work with and best of all, THE PINE RUNS WHEN THE ANIMAS AND PIEDRA ARE TOO LOW! Because of water released from Vallecito Reservoir, the Pine flows from 500 to 700+ cfs consistantly during the irrigation season (thru October!) I think this would be a great opportunity for paddlers in the Durango area.

If there is anyone in the area, or that can make it, Bayfield is having a meeting tomorrow night from 5pm to 7pm at town hall to talk about future development in the town. I think this would be a great time to bring up the subject to the town council. Does anyone have any documents that show the economic benefits of whitewater parks? I hope to see you there!

 

[LSB]

We poached the pine from the power plant down to the 501 bridge last summer. It was ok, II+ like you said. No fences. A park would be great. I know a couple of other paddlers in the Bay area. I'll try to bring a few people to speakup tomorrow.

 

[cosurfgod]

I will be there. Is anyone bringing beer or is it a BYOB type of thing?

 

[LSB]

I didnt get there till 5:30 and missed the comments. Was anything said about a ww park. The map showed river improvements at the park on the bypass. I looked online and also spoke to some people yesterday about the economic impacts of the durango park and got some positive stats. Maybe at the meeting on the 25th we could bring it up again. That should give us some time to rally some more support also.

 

[RiverRestoration.org]

WW park Economic Data

I can get some economic information together and present some whitewater park oppurtunities to the Town, how to get it funded, engineered and permitted. Is there a planner or contact at the Town that would be a point of contact? Email me directly, [email protected] . I'll be comming through Bayfield of 1/14 and could meet.

 

[rivermanryan]

I was also too late after I was dealing with the snow in my driveway. Sorry about that. Anyway, I am going to get the name of the recreation guy who has the big master plan drawing for the park in his office. I think I remembered he had funny hours like weekdays from 9 to noon. His office is in the old middle school building gym (new rec center) downtown Bayfield.

Jason - if you are passing through at about that time maybe you could just stop in and talk.

Sorry that I am unable to put more energy toward this opportunity. I have a lot on my plate right now, but I will do what I can. I think at this point the best approach is to have people like Jason, with experience, start giving these guys a sales pitch.

 

[yaksurfer]

If you need any other help, there are a few of us Farmington guys who might be able to help out as it progresses. Always looking to help future development of any WW park. Bayfield sounds great to me! Keep us posted.

 

[rivermanryan]

Here are some numbers:

Town Manager is 970-884-2620

Recreation Department is 970-884-9034

Again, I have no idea what has been discussed so far. I think everything is in the early planning stages and probably a good time to jump in with our ideas.

 

[LSB]

The big map of the park at the meeting definitely showed some river improvements on the north side of the bypass just above the bridge but only listed fish habitat in the caption. So I think they would be open to input from other recreational users. Especially if we can show benefits such as safety for other users such as swimmers and tubers as well as economic benefits to the community.