After at least 16 years of negotiations, the city of Durango signed a land title transfer agreement on Friday to take ownership of two parcels totaling 49 acres.
The land is directly north of Oxbow Park and Preserve in north Durango.
The donation was made by Maddie and Bill Waters of California, who are passionate about preserving open spaces and wildlife habitats, Durango natural resources manager Amy Schwarzbach said on Friday.
The city still needs to decide how exactly the greenway will be managed, which will be informed by consultation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife as well as public engagement opportunities, Schwarzbach said.
The Waters family wanted to protect the Animas River corridor and the wildlife that thrives in the riparian area.
There will also be one key condition for the land donation: The greenway must be called “The Waters’ Sacred Heart of Jesus,” Schwarzbach said. Either “Park” or “Preserve” will complete the name.
Sixteen-plus years ago, the Waters were originally looking to sell the two parcels and a third parcel on Animas View Drive for an upward of $3 million, Schwarzbach said.
The city had considered purchasing the properties, but the terms couldn’t be worked out.
A realtor for the Waters contacted the city about a year and a half ago to see if the city was still interested in the property, Schwarzbach said.
“I let the realtor know we have been researching the bird populations in Oxbow Preserve for about 10 years,” she said. “And we know that the biodiversity along the Animas River corridor, especially those cottonwood galleries and those intact willow stands, there is potential for southwest willow flycatchers, those are endangered birds.”
For the past eight months or so, Schwarzbach and Maddie Waters have chatted, texted and emailed back and forth about the possible donation.
“Their heart and soul is in taking care of the next generation, taking care of wildlife habitat,” Schwarzbach said. “At this point in their lives, (Maddie) said they have the ability to donate the land and are feeling very ‘honored and blessed,’ her words, to be able to do this.”
The city will mirror the public process it applied to managing Oxbow Park and Preserve, which included working with CPW and the public to determine how to better manage the river corridor there and keep the property open to the public.
Schwarzbach said the Animas River is “absolutely the pulse of our community.”
She said preserving the river corridor is not only valuable to wildlife but also to humans. She credited Kevin Hall, former director of Durango Community Engagement, with keeping in touch with the Waters family and putting in the work that resulted in the acquisition of the greenway.
“It’s definitely taken a team of city staff to get us there and now we’re here. Now our community and wildlife will get to enjoy the benefits long into the future,” she said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
