A massive logjam is backing up Vallecito Creek – a direct result of the mid-October floods that forced hundreds of residents in northern Vallecito to evacuate.
The debris pile, located within the boundaries of the Weminuche Wilderness, is wedged between two boulders and measures roughly 35 feet wide and 35 feet tall. It poses an imminent threat to downstream ecology and nearby neighborhoods, said Bruce Evans, chief of the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, the lead agency for Vallecito’s long-term flood recovery.
If the blockage remains through the start of the spring recreation season, it could affect the local economy, he added.
About 50 boats travel through the canyon each day during the spring and summer recreation season, Evans said, noting that whitewater tourism drives traffic to the few restaurants, markets and gear outfitters in the Vallecito area.
If the obstacle remains in place, it would cut into the profits of businesses that rely on the relatively short summer tourist season to make up a significant portion of their annual income, he said.
Addressing the issue is one of the most urgent tasks on the lengthy list of post-flood remediation work.
The pileup could become far more dangerous if left unmitigated. It would likely freeze over the winter, creating an ice dam in the narrow canyon, Evans said. A freeze could trap a “wall” of water behind it, and a sudden release during spring runoff – when flows can surge to 3,000 cubic feet per second – could wipe out the remediation work planned for the channel and undo repairs already completed downstream.
“Then we would be right back to where we started,” he said.
The jam first came to the community’s attention earlier this month during a post-flood community meeting. Since then, Upper Pine, along with the U.S. Forest Service and other partners, has conducted a thorough investigation. Crews hiked into the site, and the district requested a multimission aircraft flight from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control to capture aerial observations.
“You could see this logjam clear as day from 17,000 feet,” Evans said.
What most alarmed him, he said, was feedback from a longtime boater and search-and-rescue member who has paddled the canyon for three decades.
“When an avid, experienced boater says he’s never seen anything like this in 30 years, it puts my antenna up,” Evans said.
While the hope is to dismantle the jam as soon as possible, the blockage sits within national forest boundaries and the Forest Service must approve a plan before Upper Pine can move forward.
Evans said he sent two proposals to the agency last week – one involving fire, the other explosives.
The plans were floated past Vallecito residents at the weekly community post-flood meeting last week. Those in attendance strongly supported burning the pile.
“My plan is to put people (Upper Pine firefighters) up there on both sides of the canyon and have them stay overnight to babysit it until it burns down,” Evans said. “The top portion of this log pile is very dry, so we’re going to use a weed burner to ignite it so that we don’t put any petroleum products like drip torch oil or anything into the channel.”
Some residents questioned how burning the debris may impact water quality, but Evans and other officials speaking of the plans said it would be negligible. Nearly every hand went up in support of the proposal, he said.
“I’ve got a picture of, you know, essentially the entire audience raising their hands saying ‘burn it,’” Evans chuckled. He sent the photo to the chief forester as proof that the community was behind the proposition.
Final approval from the Forest Service was pending as of Wednesday.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
