# The Damn Dam on the Gunnison



## riverred (Jul 16, 2005)

Does anyone have information on the dam that blocks the gunnison river between hwy 50 and hwy 65 just upstream from Delta? I believe that it is an illegal dam because there is no way around it and the landowner does NOT allow you to portage. IF you have pictures please post or send to [email protected]

here is a google map link. The damn is between 50 and 65 bridges.

maps delta, co - Google Maps

Thanks!


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## Ole Rivers (Jul 7, 2005)

riverred said:


> Does anyone have information on the dam that blocks the gunnison river between hwy 50 and hwy 65 just upstream from Delta? I believe that it is an illegal dam because there is no way around it and the landowner does NOT allow you to portage. IF you have pictures please post or send to [email protected]
> 
> here is a google map link. The damn is between 50 and 65 bridges.
> 
> ...


Is it a privately built dam? Check to see if it has a boat chute or passageway, as required, I believe, by law. Take pics and check with Army Corps of Engineers to confirm they know about it and that it has been properly permitted and conforms to the law... construction, portage or otherwise.

There may be a legal right to portage if there's no adequate boat chute, the dam represents a hazard and/or it creates a "necessary" reason to portage. Check Colorado Revised Statutes and/or with CofE for the laws.

There was an illegal structure built by a ranch in South Park a few years ago that had to be removed and mitigated.


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## cbieh589 (Mar 4, 2008)

I'm not sure but I think private dams are unregulated, federal, state and local built dams are the only ones that have to conform to standards. Not sure on this but I did just do a research project on dam failure and I believe I ran across that little tidbit of knowledge.


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## Ole Rivers (Jul 7, 2005)

*Portage Rights*



cbieh589 said:


> I'm not sure but I think private dams are unregulated, federal, state and local built dams are the only ones that have to conform to standards. Not sure on this but I did just do a research project on dam failure and I believe I ran across that little tidbit of knowledge.


Excerpt from http://www.adventuresports.com/river/nors/states/co-law-boat-rights.htm :

*The rights of riparian landowners to erect cattle fences and irrigation diversions, while providing a useable boat chute or portage route for boaters:*

Riparian landowners who erect fences or diversion dams, without providing a convenient boat chute or portage route, are indeed violating the state’s criminal obstruction statute, CRS § 18-9-107, as well as federal law regarding obstructions.(49) Riparian landowners can comply with the law by providing a boat chute or portage route, or both, through or around fences or diversion dams on rivers flowing through their property. (Landowners who have questions about what sort of boat chute or portage route would be useable for boaters can contact the nearest boating club, rafting outfitter, or the National Organization for Rivers.) Riparian landowners should also contact the Denver office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before doing anything in the bed or banks of a river. (Certain ranchers have had to pay substantial fines because they used a bulldozer to rearrange a river bed without getting a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.)


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## riverred (Jul 16, 2005)

please visit the website below and show your support for the revived plan to make the Hartland Dam accessible for fish and boats.

http://www.deltacd.net/attachments/File/hartland.pdf

Delta Conservation District - Home

help get the gunnison open for everyone! (especially the fish!)


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