Debate has swirled around the new Oxbow Park and Preserve Management Plan since its introduction this fall, but a Durango resident is using the debate as a springboard for his new plan to confront tuber safety concerns.
Resident Dennis Pierce, who lives near the Animas River south of Bakers Bridge, has proposed a city- and school board-led advertising campaign focusing on the importance of personal flotation devices, or PFDs.
“I decided to take some proactive moves,” Pierce said about a Dec. 2 letter emailed to Parks & Recreation Director Cathy Metz, the school district and local rafting companies, as well as local media. “By making these proposals that I’ve made, hopefully there will be a happy medium.”
Pierce volunteered to donate $600 to the campaign, which he proposed would include the Durango City Council, Parks & Recreation, local media and Durango School District 9-R.
He envisions having students create posters about the importance of river safety, with gift-card rewards going to the best posters. Pierce hopes such a campaign would reach out to the young people who frequent the river in the summer months.
“I think basically by going through the schools and getting the schools involved, then we get to the kids,” said Pierce. “They would certainly listen to that more than they would me. It’s a peer-pressure thing.”
Metz said the idea is something City Council and Parks & Recreation may consider once a final decision is made on the Oxbow Park plan.
“Once we get the public piece where we know we have a good plan for how to proceed, we also know law enforcement is important, we know education is important,” Metz said.
The Oxbow Park plan has revived questions in the last few months about what rights tubers should have on the Animas River where people own private property.
The proposal reads: “Downstream tube float trips without an approved method of propulsion is discouraged due to the distance and length of time to reach a public river access.” The plan also calls for all river craft to be “propelled in this section with a paddle,” and encourages river users to use PFDs.
But Pierce believes there needs to be more done to encourage river-goers to follow these guidelines – in Oxbow and along the rest of the Animas.
“These are the same parents who won’t let their kid on a bicycle without a helmet, won’t let them ski without a helmet. They shouldn’t let them on the river without a PFD,” he said.
Metz said Pierce’s suggestion falls in line with some previous messaging City Council and the city of Durango have done regarding river safety.
She said Parks & Recreation previously has encouraged tubers to put in across from the Community Recreation Center by having commercial rafting companies give prizes to some of those who came to the put-in.
“It was very popular, and people actually did do it,” Metz said. “We got a little bit more foot traffic putting in behind the rec center.”
But is something similar in store for Pierce’s proposal? Pierce said he received positive feedback from several stakeholders who received his original email but will leave the follow-up to the city.
Metz said this comes as one of several good comments that have emerged from the debate around the river and Oxbow Park, and some of these ideas may be discussed more Wednesday at a public meeting about the new draft of the proposal.
“We do want to reach out to the community,” She said. “We do want to provide the opportunity to educate them.”
Sarah Ford is a junior majoring in journalism at the University of Denver. herald@durangoherald.com.
If you go
The city of Durango’s Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board and the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board will meet to discuss the Oxbow Park and Preserve Management Plan at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Durango Community Recreation Center, 2700 Main Ave.
