Flipping through field notebooks…
Connects mid-20th-century federal water development proposals — centered on the contested Union Park Reservoir — with county governments, Bureau of Reclamation planning, and interstate compact obligations across the Gunnison Basin.
Water is the most contested resource in the American West, and nowhere is that truer than in the headwaters of the Upper Colorado River system. The Gunnison Basin — encompassing Gunnison, Hinsdale, and Saguache Counties — sits at the hydrologic origin of one of the seven Colorado River Compact states' supply, meaning decisions made here ripple downstream to roughly 40 million people. The policy area covered here concerns how federal reclamation projects, interstate compacts, and local water conservancy districts negotiate who gets to store, divert, and use that water. At stake are irrigated ranching economies, municipal supplies for the Front Range cities, the ecological integrity of fens (groundwater-fed peat wetlands that depend on shallow water tables), and federally protected fishery species in the Gunnison and Colorado mainstems.
Several technical concepts recur throughout this body of documents. A Compact is a binding interstate agreement allocating river flows — in this case the 1922 Colorado River Compact and its 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact. Appraisal refers to the engineering and economic feasibility studies that the Bureau of Reclamation prepares before authorizing dams and tunnel construction (the long bored conveyances that move water under the Continental Divide). Advocacy describes the organized public participation — from ranchers, conservation groups, and county governments — that shapes whether a project moves forward. A permanent injunction is the courtroom remedy that opponents seek to halt a project for good. The Collegiate Range Aurora Project and its successor, the Union Park Reservoir proposal, became the defining transmountain diversion fights of the late twentieth century in this basin. A field station such as the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) provides the long-term ecological baseline against which the consequences of these decisions can be measured.
Federal involvement in the Upper Gunnison began in earnest with the Colorado River Storage Project and the Curecanti (Aspinall) Unit, which produced Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal Dams. The vision was captured early in popular science writing such as Our Upper Colorado River Project (Moinat, 1955), which framed reclamation as a regional development imperative. As the Aspinall Unit came online, questions arose over how its senior federal water rights would interact with junior upstream uses, producing decades of negotiation over subordination — the agreement by which Reclamation accepts limits on its priority date so that local uses can continue .
Author: Klingsmith Date: 1991 Water, Arapahoe County, Dam, Conservation, Front Range, Development, Gunnison, Colorado
Author: Klingsmith Date: 1991 Water, Arapahoe County, Dam, Conservation, Front Range, Development, Gunnison, Colorado
Author: Klingsmith Date: 1991 Water, Arapahoe County, Dam, Conservation, Front Range, Development, Gunnison, Colorado
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
Water report (1950s-1999). Covers Upper Gunnison River, Cochetopa Creek, Ohio Creek. Topics: water rights, reservoir storage, irrigation, direct flow ...
Author: Klingsmith Date: 1991 Water, Arapahoe County, Dam, Conservation, Front Range, Development, Gunnison, Colorado
The Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, established under Colorado statute, became the principal local entity defending in-basin water against export. Its diligence filings document a continuous record of conditional water rights, reservoir storage planning, and direct-flow irrigation claims from the 1950s through the 1990s Reasonable Diligence. Foundational correspondence in the District's volumes Volume 2 Parts 1-6 Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District (Volume 2)- Part 2 Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District (Volume 2)- Part 3 Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District (Volume 2)- Part 4 Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District (Volume 2)- Part 5 Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District (Volume 2)- Part 6and Volume 3 Parts 1 and 6 Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District (Volume 3)- Part 6 under board president William S. Trampe records the legal and budgetary architecture of that defense. Earlier proof-of-claim materials (Proofs, 1951) establish how substitute supply plans and replacement releases were administered between the District and the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Colorado Region.
The key federal stakeholders are the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which builds and operates storage projects; the United States Department of the Interior, its parent; the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers Endangered Species Act consultations on Colorado River fishes; and the United States Geological Survey, which supplies the hydrologic data underpinning every appraisal. At the state level, the Colorado Department of Wildlife (now Colorado Parks and Wildlife) manages fisheries affected by flow regimes. Locally, the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, county commissioners in Gunnison, Hinsdale, and Saguache, and citizen groups such as People Opposing Water Export Raids form the advocacy coalition.
The defining management episode was the Union Park Reservoir proposal, a transmountain diversion that would have moved Gunnison Basin water to Arapahoe County on the Front Range. The Klingsmith series Proposed Union Park Reservoir, Parts 1, 2, 3, and 6 Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 2 Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 3 Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 6 chronicles the technical, political, and conservation arguments, while the Union Park Background Documents compiled by Ralph E. (Butch) Clark Part 1 Part 2 preserve the local opposition record. The District's Volume 5 correspondence (1996-1997) captures how the dispute resolved through Colorado water court, culminating in the denial of the conditional appropriation — a functional permanent injunction against the project.
The central pressure today is climate-driven aridification of the Colorado River system. Long records of drought, Dust Bowl analogs, and tree-ring megadroughts compiled in the basin Power Colo. R. Debt I suggest the twentieth-century hydrology on which compacts and Aspinall operations were built is no longer a reliable baseline. As Lake Powell and Lake Mead decline, demands to renegotiate subordination agreements, revisit storage operations, and reconsider transmountain proposals are resurfacing. Fens and fishery habitat dependent on specific flow regimes are increasingly vulnerable, and the District's archived planning documents are being revisited as precedent for current negotiations.
RMBL's long-term ecological monitoring in the East River and Gunnison headwaters provides exactly the kind of baseline data needed to evaluate how reservoir operations, diversions, and changing snowpack translate into downstream ecological outcomes. Hydrologic research, fen ecology, and aquatic invertebrate studies conducted from the field station connect directly to the policy record preserved in the Conservancy District's files, allowing managers to test whether the assumptions embedded in mid-century appraisals (Moinat, 1955) still hold under twenty-first-century conditions.
Moinat, Our Upper Colorado River Project, 1955. →
Power Colo. R. Debt I. →
POWER Subordination #2. →
Proofs (1951). →
Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 1 (Klingsmith, 1991). →
Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 2 (Klingsmith, 1991). →
Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 3 (Klingsmith, 1991). →
Proposed Union Park Reservoir Part 6 (Klingsmith, 1991). →
Subordination + Power BoR Protection Part 3 (Klingsmith). →
Union Park Background Documents Part 1 (Clark, 1991). →
Union Park Background Documents Part 2 (Clark, 1991). →
Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District — Reasonable Diligence. →
Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District Vol. 5, 1996-1997. →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 2 Part 1 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 2 Part 2 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 2 Part 3 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 2 Part 4 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 2 Part 5 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 2 Part 6 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 3 Part 1 (Trampe, 1994). →
Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District Volume 3 Part 6 (Trampe, 1994). →
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
Pete Klingsmith, Tyler Martineau, Ralph E. Clark. Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District. 1997.
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
Correspondence (1930s-1998). Covers Grand Junction, Colorado, Texas. Topics: drought, Dust Bowl, megadroughts, water rights. Agencies: NOAA, National ...
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
Author: Ralph E. Clark (Butch Clark) Date: September 4, 1991 Energy, Arapahoe County, Transmountain Diversion, Dam, Rocky Point, People Opposing Water...
Correspondence (1951). Covers Grand Junction, Upper Gunnison River, Gunnison. Topics: water rights administration, Substitute Supply Plan, replacement...
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
Author: Klingsmith Date: 1991 Water, Arapahoe County, Dam, Conservation, Front Range, Development, Gunnison, Colorado
Author: Klingsmith Water, Colorado, Gunnison, Allocation, Development, Front Range, Prior Appropriation
Correspondence (1992). Covers Gunnison, Colorado, Grand Junction. Topics: water rights administration, call protection, Substitute Supply Plan, water ...
Author: Klingsmith Water, Colorado, Gunnison, Allocation, Development, Front Range, Prior Appropriation
Technical report (mid-1940s to mid-1950s). Covers Gunnison, Upper Gunnison River, Upper Gunnison Basin. Topics: water subordination, call protection, ...
Correspondence (1998-1999). Covers Colorado River, Colorado, Front Range. Topics: Colorado River Compact, trans-mountain diversion, water allocation, ...
Technical report (1878-1972). Covers Colorado River, Colorado River Basin, Mexican delta. Topics: Colorado River management, water allocations, water ...
Technical report (1977). Covers Washington, Fort Collins, Colorado. Topics: energy development, coal extraction and conversion, oil shale development,...
President of Board: William S. Trampe Date: December 10, 1994 Budget, Citizens, Employment, Union Park Project, Taylor Park Reservoir,? Conservancy
Legislation (1955). Covers Colorado River Basin, upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado. Topics: Colorado River Storage Project, water storage, irrigati...
Environmental assessment (November 1999). Covers Upper Colorado Region, Grand Junction, Upper Gunnison River Basin. Topics: water rights administratio...
Document (July 22-24, 2009). Covers Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado, Colorado River. Topics: nonconsumptive use, endangered fish recovery, invasive specie...
Author: Klingsmith Date: 1991 Water, Arapahoe County, Dam, Conservation, Front Range, Development, Gunnison, Colorado
Author: Butch E Clark Date: 2001 ? Gunnison, Durango, Colorado Spring, Denver Water, Rocky Ford, Ditches, Allocation, Conservation, Front Range, Weste...
Water report (1920s-1994). Covers Grand Valley, Colorado River, Palisade. Topics: irrigation, water rights, water allocation, irrigation water allocat...
Correspondence (1982-2003). Covers Gunnison Valley, Gunnison, Gunnison River. Topics: water rights, drought, water appropriation, beneficial use. Agen...
Legislation (1956). Covers Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado River, Curecanti. Topics: Colorado River storage project, water storage, flood control...
An introduction written by POWER addressing a sever sustained drought as well as newspaper articles from the Denver Post addressing the drought.
Agreement among the United States of America, The CO state engineer, The CO River Water Conservation District, and the Upper Gunnison River Water Cons...
Document (21st Century). Covers American West, Desert South-West, Colorado. Topics: trans-mountain diversion, water policy, water appropriation, water...
News article (1872-2005). Covers Nevada, ELKO, Goldstrike mine. Topics: open-pit gold mining, gold mining, water depletion, open-pit mining. Agencies:...
A letter written by Klingsmith to the public regarding the victory POWER won to prevent water from Taylor and Union Park to the front range. ?He is al...
A schedule from the Gunnison Water Workshop in 1999. As well as three articles on water law by Richard Bratton, John M. Sayre, and Felix L. Sparks.
Correspondence (2007). Covers Palmer Lake, Colorado, Washington, DC. Topics: Central Colorado Project, pumped-storage, renewable energy, water product...
Technical report (1994-1996). Covers Colorado River Basin, Colorado River, Grand Canyon. Topics: basin management, water management, stakeholder engag...
Correspondence. Covers Mountain-Prairie Region, Rocky Mountains, Nebraska sandhills. Topics: fens, wetlands, mitigation, Resource Category 1. Agencies...
Correspondence (1922-1998). Covers Gunnison Basin, Colorado River, Gunnison River. Topics: transmountain diversion, water availability, unappropriated...
Technical report (1872-2000). Covers Colorado, Jackson River, Crystal River. Topics: public boating rights, riparian landowner rights, public river ri...
Technical report (1914-1958). Covers Colorado, Continental Divide, Ten Mile Creek. Topics: soil conservation, water conservation, watershed protection...
Peter Evans. Colorado Department of Natural Resources & Water Conservation Board Staff. July 22, 1996.
Management plan (1992-2003). Covers Upper Colorado River Basin, Gunnison River, Green River. Topics: Recovery Implementation Program, habitat restorat...
Correspondence (2000). Covers Gunnison County, Yampa Basin, Colorado. Topics: Colorado River Water Conservation District, water conservation. Agencies...
Correspondence (2001-2004). Covers Montrose County, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Gunnison Tunnel. Topics: conditional water right, wate...
Correspondence (1991-1993). Covers Colorado, Denver, New Mexico. Topics: water marketing, water rights transfer, state water plan, water rights. Agenc...
Meeting content concerning operations for reservoirs in the region. Includes graphical data sets of reservoir inflow. August 20th 2002
Technical report. Covers Colorado River Basin, Colorado River, Carbondale. Topics: efficient water use, water efficiency, municipal efficiency, sustai...
Technical report (1896-1999). Covers Colorado River Basin, Continental Divide, Front Range. Topics: Colorado River Compact, trans-mountain diversion, ...
Carl M. York and John C. Cobb. Federation of Rocky Mountain States, Inc.and University of Colorado Medical Center. 1975.
News article (January 31, 2000). Covers Colorado, Denver, Aurora. Topics: water rights, irrigated agriculture, water storage projects, water conservat...
Correspondence (1964-1994). Covers Colorado, Denver, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. Topics: wilderness reserved water rights, federal...
Governor Roy Romer and Department of Natural Resources Colorado Water Conservation Board. March, 1991.
Technical report (1902-1999). Covers American West, Colorado River, Arizona. Topics: reclamation, irrigation, water storage, hydroelectric generation....
Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Parks and Recreation Association, Center for Public-Priv...
Legislation (1922). Covers Arizona, California, Colorado. Topics: water apportionment, beneficial consumptive use, domestic use, agricultural uses. Ag...
Correspondence (1984-1985). Covers Colorado, Western Colorado, Washington State. Topics: deregulation, marketing services. Agencies: Western State Col...
Technical report (1898-1989). Covers San Luis Valley, Closed Basin, Colorado. Topics: water salvage, ground water, wildlife enhancement, conveyance ch...
News article (1933-2001). Covers Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Gunnison River, Colorado. Topics: water rights quantification, water flow regulation, e...
Technical report. Covers Bill Williams River, Agua Fria River, Arizona. Topics: riparian restoration, hydrologic manipulation, physical disturbance, s...
News article. Covers Gunnison River Basin, Blue Mesa Reservoir, Front Range. Topics: water diversion, water rights, drought, urban development. Agenci...
Letter concerning POWER’s (People Opposing Water Export Raids) “failure” to recognize the following Compact provisions in their letter to the Upper Co...
News article. Covers Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Gunnison River, Colorado. Topics: water rights, reserved water right, instream flow, settlement agr...
Correspondence (1997). Covers Colorado, Gunnison, Glenwood Springs. Topics: water conservation, federal water projects, irrigated agriculture, economi...
Technical report (February 2002). Covers Gunnison Basin, Colorado, Utah. Topics: transmountain diversion, pipeline infrastructure, water diversion. Ag...
Technical report (2000). Covers Division 3, San Luis Valley, Rio Grande. Topics: water rights settlement, federal reserved rights, minimum flows, flus...
Correspondence (1937-1984). Covers Gunnison County, Colorado, Gunnison River. Topics: recreational floating, public access to waterways. Agencies: Gun...
Correspondence. Covers Colorado, Front Range, Colorado River. Topics: transmountain diversion, water allocation. Agencies: U.S. Supreme Court, Congres...
Document (1876-1994). Covers Routt County, Colorado, Yampa River. Topics: Criminal Trespass, River Navigability, Stream Access Rights, stream navigati...
r. . ~ EFF'u.iENT TRADING i:N WATERsHEDS Achieves equal or greater reduction of pollution for the same or less cost. POUCY STATEMENT . c~ an economic ...
Correspondence (late 1940s-early 1950s). Covers Gunnison Basin, Upper Gunnison Basin, Blue Mesa. Topics: water rights, subordination agreement, call p...
Management plan (2017-2021). Covers Upper Gunnison Basin, Lake Fork of the Gunnison, Cebolla Valleys. Topics: watershed management planning, water div...
Questions to be answered by UGRWCD (Upper Gunnison River Water Conservation District) By POWER (People Opposing Water Export Raids) May 9th 2000
, .In 1992. the U.S. Con· projects mentioned above. grcss under President George This bill does not ab- Bush passed the Omnibus solutely prevent groun...
News article (1922-1994). Covers Colorado River, Upper Basin, Lower Basin. Topics: water conservation, consumptive use. Agencies: Bureau of Reclamatio...
Legislation (1977-1983). Covers Colorado River, Colorado, Denver. Topics: aquifer, ground water, right to float, nonnavigable fresh water streams. Age...
Water report (1974). Covers Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande. Topics: water supply, water rights. Agencies: Bureau of Reclamation, Colorado Department of ...
County plan. Covers City of Gunnison, Gunnison River, Almont. Topics: water rights, municipal water, irrigation water rights, water storage. Agencies:...
Correspondence (1930s-1990s). Covers Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, Gunnison Basin, Upper Gunnison Basin. Topics: water quantificatio...
Technical report. Covers Taylor Park Reservoir, Taylor River, Gunnison River Basin. Topics: water rights subordination, water storage contracts, water...
Correspondence. Covers Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Eastern Slope. Topics: transmountain diversion, water supply, policy statement. Agencies: Colorado ...
Correspondence. Covers Montrose, Colorado, Durango. Topics: unpatented mining claims, recordation of mining claims, mill sites, tunnel sites. Agencies...
___ - -- ...... u u•a.u- tne wnne House agenda was shelved and Sen. Max Cletana, a veteran wuu tost his g __-· ....... •v• wnner. Law·a tmsn usu- nah,...
News article (1950-1994). Covers Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas River. Topics: water diversion, water wells, river flows, water damages. Agencies: U.S. Su...
Legislation (2000-2002). Covers Colorado, eastern slopes, western slopes. Topics: state planning for infrastructure, population growth, integrated wat...
News article (1959-1999). Covers Gunnison River, Upper Gunnison River Basin, Gunnison Basin. Topics: water subordination agreement, water rights. Agen...
Correspondence (1986-1995). Covers Baca Grant #4, Villa Grove, Colorado. Topics: groundwater appropriation, tributary groundwater, non-tributary groun...
Union Pacific, Temco, Exxon-Mobile.
Correspondence. Covers Gunnison, Colorado. Topics: diversion project, fish passage, diversion structure. Agencies: CDOW, State Water Resources, Army C...
Letter to Chairman L. Dutcher of the CRWCD (Colorado River Water Conservation District) From Secretary F.C. Merriell April 9th 1951
David Baumgarten and Mike Pelletier. Gunnison County Attorney. September 19, 2006.