The Animas River Community forum will meet Monday to discuss two recently awarded grants that will pay for a coordinator’s salary and extend the life of the group for 10 months.
Matching funds from the Southwest Basin Roundtable and Southwestern Water Conservation District amount to $54,000. “The goal for ARCF is to accomplish three major tasks, including bring together the group of collaborators for cohesive dialogue about cleanup in the basin, continue providing information to the public about what’s happening with the river and evaluate the long-term state of the river,” said Marcie Bidwell, executive director of Mountain Studies Institute, which is a stakeholder in the community forum and helped secure the grant funding.
The Animas River Community Forum convened in response to the Aug. 5, 2015, Gold King Mine spill, which sent 3 million gallons of contaminated sludge into the Animas and San Juan rivers. Of all the coordinated groups that formed or responded in the aftermath of the spill, ARCF is the broadest and includes a range of stakeholders representing agricultural, economic and environmental interests.
“There are a lot of conversations about what to expect next and what effect this had on us in the past, now and in the future,” Bidwell said. “We’re trying to channel those lessons learned, share information and improve availability.”
The group also is considering forming a speakers bureau in the months ahead to expand outreach beyond the San Juan Basin to communities with an interest in the effects of the Gold King spill.
Southwest Basin Roundtable has 35 members representing counties, municipalities, the state, tribes and industrial, agricultural and environmental interests.
Chairman Mike Preston, who manages the Dolores Water Conservancy District in Cortez, said the roundtable unanimously supported the grant. “Issues of mine drainage are not confined to the Animas River,” Preston said. “We have Rico situated above the town of Dolores, which could face the same set of events, so affected parties communicating and problem-solving is a model that could really be valuable across the southwest basin, and across the state.”
A steering committee of the ARCF will convene prior to Monday’s meeting to establish a process for hiring a coordinator.
jpace@durangoherald.com
