Working group 

  B. Current effort

1. The Working Group has selected 9 streams or reaches within them as candidates for Outstanding Waters.

2. They are: Bear, above private property; Coal, below Lizard Head Wilderness Area; East Fork; Priest; Slate, below Lizard Head Wilderness Area; Snow Spur; Stoner, above private property; Wildcat; and West Fork, above Burro Bridge and below Lizard Head Wilderness Area

3. All 9 have large drainage areas and high maximum elevations.

4. Those characteristics are believed key for resilience against dewatering due to climate change.

5. The 9 candidate streams currently are undergoing water quality analyses.

6. The analyses are being conducted in each of the 4 seasons over the period of a year.

7. Findings so far are shown at Metals and Non-metals results in Data.

8. More description is at Outstanding waters and at Regulatory environment.

  C. Outreach​

1. The Working Group is sharing information with Dolores Watershed Resilient Forest (DWRF); Montezuma and Dolores County Commissions; Towns of Cortez, Mancos, Dolores, and Rico; landowners in the immediate area of the candidate streams; cattle and sheep ranchers with active grazing permits in the watersheds; Southwestern Water Conservation District; local newspapers, for example, the Cortez Journal and the Durango Herald.

2. Outreach is expected to expand and refine as the candidate list of streams approaches finalization.​

  D. Discussion​

Links to presentations that have assisted discussions at Working Group sessions, which are ongoing:

• Session 4, November 18, 2020.

• Session 3, February 3, 2020.

• Session 2, November 20, 2019.

• Session 1, May 15, 2019.