Dolores River conservation efforts surge with record flows
This month’s swirling flow in the Dolores River is mostly snowmelt from the Disappointment Creek basin that drains almost 350 square miles of the western San Juans before joining the meandering Dolores through miles of dramatic Wingate Sandstone canyon. … Hard times are common for the Dolores River, where dwindling water supplies in a warming climate offer only feeble leftovers for almost 200 miles of river canyon below McPhee Reservoir. But this winter’s bountiful snowpack is expected to float thousands of boats on the river that rarely sees navigable flows. … There are two pieces of legislation from Colorado’s federal lawmakers — an unlikely pairing of Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and Democratic U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper — vying to establish a new conservation area on the upper section of the river.