Riverbottom Park
A River Reborn – A New Uncompahgre!
By Joel L Evans
“New”. Defined by over a dozen nuances of the word, ranging from first to modern to fresh. Here is the one that fits – “Beginning again, having just reached a position or rank”.
An age old river has been reborn. In a matter of weeks no less. The Uncompahgre River right in the middle of town has been transformed. Altered to the good by the power of man and machine, over one mile of the river right in the middle of town is born anew.
Started by the Gunnison Gorge Anglers chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Flyfishers, an idea was born to improve the public fishery right in the center of town. Sure there are great places to fish within a short drive, but why not pay attention to the river we have in our backyard?
Stretching from the upstream southern end within Baldridge Park on downstream north to the Main Street bridge, a major stream improvement project, the culmination of years of dreaming and planning, is mostly complete. The river is truly new in that what was before mostly a flat, wide river with bank erosion and little
habitat for fish, has now been made into a more natural course using large boulders to redirect and abate the erosive current.
A fish motel of sorts has been created. Not only will the rock work reduce erosion and encourage revegetation, but funny how those rocks make good holding places for fish to live and flourish. Can you imagine me having an interest in that?
My idea and hope for this precious public resource in town is for it to be used by kids and families and seniors. You can bet I plan to fish down there (already have!), but I can fish many places with a turn of the ignition key and putting one foot in front of another. I wanted a place where a kid could safely ride his bike to with pole in hand or a senior could walk the nearby bike path and wet a line, if even only for a short time.
We now have that. I hope the river is recognized and used for that purpose.
What gave me the idea years ago was the similar work that Trout Unlimited initiated when Ridgway Dam was built. Trout Unlimited worked then to get the stretch below the dam improved with significant rock work and special regulations to create a quality fishery where none existed before.
At that time, maybe ten years ago, Bob Burk and I had conversations with the City and others about repeating the process here in town at Riverbottom Park. Support for the idea was strong, but the project needed funding and
more awareness.
Then about three years ago the idea began to gather some momentum. The City had acquired more property in the area and was making plans for various public improvements on the west side of the river. The time was now right and GGA began a process with the City of Montrose, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the State of Colorado for funding. With a Fishing is Fun grant from the DOW and budgeted capital improvement funds by the City, all leveraged into a Colorado GOCO grant, about $238,000 was approved for the in-stream work.
With the City as the lead agency, the various groups worked together to hire a contractor with heavy equipment and experience with river work. Ecological Resource Consultants was hired, permits were obtained, and work began in November.
First to come were truckloads of large rock quarried near Canon City. Then a front-end loader and two large backhoes with “opposable thumb” attachments on the backhoe buckets were used to transport, lift, and position the rocks in groups that create a natural, healthly, river course. Regrading of the stream bottom creates deeper runs, reduces erosion, and provides a natural river channel for both low and high flows. Natural pools, glides, riffles and reinforced banks now exist where there was nothing but flat, slow water before. An old pipeline, a safety hazard, 3 foot in diameter was removed, as well as concrete and other junk – there was even an old sofa in the water.
Originally, the work was to begin upstream by the soccer fields, but a shortage of funds required that a lesser distance be completed, so the work began instead just below the footbridge at the park. So Phase 2 will be to work on the upper section at a later time. Also, next spring before runoff begins, yet to do is a significant amount of vegetation planting, using willows and other natural plants to fill in and protect exposed banks.
Other planned improvements in the city park area, particularly on the west side of the river, will be built more toward the western side of the property, maintaining a vegetated strip that isolates the river from the other activities. A new bike path courses near the river, giving excellent access its entire length, as well as a new footbridge at the southern end near the Main Street bridge. This combination allows you to get there but also preserves the natural and wild essence – amazing for a public park in the center of town!
My thanks to all involved. And there were many. We did it!
What about the next phase? Although much of the river is privately owned, I do envision more work being done through easements, donations, or acquisitions. What a great resource within our city! As a certain newspaper publisher often says, “Montrose, a City on the Rise!” - this is but one more example of our foresight.
Go check it out. Baldridge Park is located just off Rio Grande Avenue not too far from the swimming pool. Turn off Rio Grande onto Apollo Road by the Montrose Athletic Club and follow the winding road to the pond and parking. Walk the footbridge and the bike path as far as you would like, even to the other
footbridge. The path is not always immediately by the river, so you may need to find a way through the bushes a short distance to examine the work that was done.
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