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In Preparing a McPhee Spill, a Confluence of Goals Emerges

Daniel Rayzel
A portion of the Lower Dolores flows near McPhee Dam on Memorial Day weekend.

If you’re a boater who loves the Lower Dolores, you likely check in with the Dolores Water Conservancy District’s website for updates on a McPhee Reservoir “spill.”

Those updates are carefully curated by several groups with Lower Dolores interests, including Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Dolores River Boating Advocates. 

In one set of goals, project management specialist Robert Stump speaks for the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water management for the reservoir. In another, CPW aquatic biologist Jim White monitors fish populations and how they could benefit from a spill.

But it’s not a process of meeting just one goal. Spill preparation involves meeting as many goals as possible, including that of boaters like Sam Carter of the DRBA.

Stump and Carter joined KSJD’s Daniel Rayzel for a brief history on spill collaboration and for insight on how each group’s goals are considered.