Background, Membership and Funding:  Organized in late 2006 by the Southwestern Water Conservation District and the San Juan Citizens Alliance, a River Protection Workgroup Steering Committee has planned a community process to involve the public in developing measures to protect the natural values of selected streams in the region while allowing water development to continue.    The River Protection Workgroup Steering Committee was formed as an outgrowth of discussions among various regional water planning and resource-protection organizations where a need became apparent for a collaborative process to select long-term, reliable federal, state and/or other measures to protect the identified values of regional streams, considering a wide range of “tools”, including, but not limited to, the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act ("WSR").  Funding is from in-kind donations from many of the entities involved and grants from SJCA, SWCD, Trout Unlimited, CWCB, and the National Forest Foundation.  Other grants are pending.

Activities:  The River Protection Steering Committee has designed a public process for forming Local Workgroups on these streams:  Hermosa Creek; the San Juan River - East and West Forks; portions of the upper Animas River; Piedra River - Middle and East Forks; the Pine River; and Vallecito Creek.  Each Local Workgroup will be open to all interested persons.   A Hermosa Creek Workgroup will begin in the spring of 2008.  Details will be forthcoming as to meeting dates, location and agendas.  Additional Local Workgroups will form over the course of the next three to five years (over).  

Local Workgroup participants will be asked to attend and contribute to a minimum of 10 facilitated meetings to share information, including stream protections already in place; reach an understanding of available protection “tools”; and develop plans for the future through consensus and/or negotiations. The goal of the Local Workgroup process is to engage a diversity of people in collaboratively striking a balance between the protection of natural resources and water development.  The success for each Workgroup is defined as:  a) implementation and completion of a collaborative community process that includes diverse stakeholders; and b) establishment of agreements regarding future action(s) or a determination that current stream protections are adequate to protect priority values.