Minturn – The Holy Cross Wilderness is a landscape of remote and rarely visited rock spires, towering evergreens and lush alpine meadows. Through it all, Cross Creek roars over glacier-polished spillways and ledges, then gathers in quiet eddies before spilling across extensive wetlands, habitat for hundreds of animal and plant species.
Although the river flows through a federally protected 118,000-acre wilderness area, Cross Creek may still be at long-term risk if municipalities exercise their water rights, say a pair of activists advocating for a congressional wild and scenic river designation.
The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, passed by Congress in 1968, directs that rivers with “outstandingly remarkable values should be preserved in free-flowing condition.” The Cache la Poudre is Colorado’s only designated wild and scenic river.
Cross Creek is a stellar example of what a wild and scenic river should be, said Tom Phillips and Jack Holmes. They see wild and scenic status as a means to eliminate the prospect of Aurora, Colorado Springs and the Colorado River Water Conservation District from developing their conditional water rights.
Given that Aurora has already agreed to forgo any diversions within the wilderness area, it’s not clear to everyone why such a move is desirable or necessary.
“I’m not sure what the benefit is,” said Eagle County Commissioner Tom Stone.
“People are going to make sure they still have access to whatever water rights they have.”
A move toward such a designation also could spark controversy where there is none, Stone said.
Holmes, who spends his summers in a cabin in the adjacent Homestake Creek drainage, a watershed that was devastated by an Aurora diversion project nearly four decades ago, said the time is ripe for a collaborative effort to win wild and scenic status.
The designation wouldn’t affect the development of water rights outside the wilderness area, said Phillips, a longtime Holy Cross Wilderness advocate.
Phillips is trying to build local support and early buy-in from interested parties, including Aurora and Colorado Springs, and locally from Eagle County and the communities of Vail, Red Cliff and Minturn.
Phillips also has asked U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., to consider the designation.
The key to winning congressional support is to knit together a local consensus, said Dan Gibbs, Udall’s Minturn-based field representative.
Aurora has said it has no plans to develop Cross Creek water diversions envisioned under its old Homestake 2 plans, said Doug Kemper, strategic resource planning manager.
In a letter to Phillips, the Colorado River Water Conservation District’s Chris Treese outlined potential use of Cross Creek as a water supply for Bolts Lake and said the rights could be developed outside the wilderness.
Bolts Lake is south of Minturn.
“The river district is … prepared to negotiate exercise of its conditional Cross Creek water right to open the door for a potential designation,” Treese said.
The Forest Service would support any congressional proposal to give Cross Creek wild and scenic river status, said Holy Cross District Ranger Cal Wett stein.
Wettstein said the designation could make the area more of a destination, requiring bigger parking lots and more intensive management.
At the same time, he said, it could open the door for partnerships and outside funding for management.
