In the late 1980s the City of Durango became the first community in the nation to construct a whitewater park. The park was state-of-the-art at the time, but has since lost some of its prestige to newer parks.

There is rock, but it will be a few more years before the city rolls on the new Whitewater Park. Despite the arrival of 3,600 tons of free boulders, courtesy the Glacier Club and National Guard, there will not be enough money in city coffers until 2013 to put them to use.

Finding a site is one problem,  funding and environmental impact reports another. Regional river enthusiasts want a whitewater park on the San Miguel River, but opponents argue against a park based on environmental and economic reasons.

A whitewater park on the San Miguel River is on the drawing board, and some county officials say that’s where it should stay. Bob Gleason of the San Miguel Whitewater Association recently spoke to San Miguel County commissioners about plans for a whitewater park on the San Miguel River.

As Palisade begins work on a $38,000 project to model Colorado River flows for a whitewater park town officials consider harmless, Grand Valley irrigators and some federal agencies say the park could seriously harm endangered fish.

Photo courtesy of Kelley Cox/Post Independent

Local government leaders plunged kayak paddles into the earth Tuesday to celebrate a project about seven years in the making: a whitewater park. The Glenwood Springs City Council awarded an $888,838 contract in November for construction of the feature in the Colorado River. A number of other groups and businesses also donated funds for the project.