Dolores season downgraded
Dam overlords unsure of boating season past May 21
An unidentified boater makes a run through Snag one of the last times the river had reliable flows, circa 1996.
As area rivers begin to crank up, the boating season on the Dolores is quickly drying up. What was originally forecast as a 60+ day boating season is likely not to make it to the popular Memorial Weekend Dolores Water Conservancy forecasters reported Thursday.
“The May 1 inflow forecast dropped again,” forecaster Ken Curtis wrote on the doloreswater.com Thursday on his bi-weekly update. “McPhee releases may not make it to Memorial Day near the end of May. There is significant snow left, but inflow models continue to drop.”
On Friday, the Natural Resources Conservation Service Colorado Sno-tel site was reporting the Animas-Dolores/San Miguel-san Juan River Basin at 113 percent of average.
According to Curtis, “boatable releases” of 800 CFS minimum will last through the afternoon of Sun., May 21. However, after that is anyone’s guess.
“We will need to fill McPhee at that point,” he wrote.
The next weather system currently off the California coast is sending forecasters mixed signals. Best case, it hits Southwest Colorado, providing necessary moisture to extend rafting through the end of May, he wrote.
The mid-month forecast is expected to arrive May 15 or 16. “We will continue to provide updates and may extend boating releases beyond May 21st as McPhee fills and runoff forecasts firm up,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, it’ll be tine to fasten all loose objects on the Dolores this weekend, as the spill ramps up to experimental high flows of 4,000 cfs today and Saturday. The hope is to mimic a natural high water event to replenish beaches and fisheries and move sediment.
Starting Saturday night at midnight, flows will ramp down 800 CFS per day until reaching 800 cfs on Thurs., May 11.
“With the remaining water, we will fill the reservoir (ensuring security for water users) and – as much as possible – provide releases that meet boatable flows,” he wrote. “We will know more about Memorial Day and June as we approach those dates. We understand the frustration in this uncertainty, and we are consistently working to manage flows and reservoir levels to meet all stakeholders’ needs.”
The conservancy updates the flow forecast Monday and Thursday at doloreswater.com.