In the waning days of 2022, Western Rivers Conservancy added another critical Gunnison River property to the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area (NCA) by conveying the 27-acre Meridian Junction parcel to the Bureau of Land Management. This achievement is part of WRC’s broader, ongoing effort to bolster the integrity of the NCA and improve the health of the lower Gunnison River.
One of Colorado’s great geological sculptors, the Gunnison carves a dramatic course through some of the deepest gorges in the country, including the 2,800-foot-deep Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Before it reaches the Colorado River, the lower Gunnison flows through the 210,172-acre Dominguez-Escalante NCA. The conservation area is home to diverse wildlife, and the lower Gunnison is one of the last places where all four species of Colorado basin warm-water fish (Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, bonytail chub and razorback sucker) still survive. The remote Dominguez-Escalante also offers exceptional recreation opportunities for boaters, hikers, cyclists, equestrians and others.
A lifeline in the parched western Colorado landscape, the Gunnison River is crucial to the health of the entire NCA. That’s why WRC and the BLM have been working together to purchase and conserve strategic riverfront inholdings in the conservation area since its creation in 2009. Although the lower Gunnison River flows through the NCA for 30 miles, more than 16 miles of it remain privately owned and could be developed or mined for gravel.
The small but important Meridian Junction property was one such parcel that could have been locked out of the Dominguez-Escalante for good. In 2014, the BLM approached WRC about acquiring the property when it was put up for auction. We moved quickly to purchase the land and held it for nearly a decade until we were able to line up funding through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey the parcel to the BLM.
This is the sixth property that WRC has purchased along the lower Gunnison and transferred to the BLM for permanent protection. Our first accomplishments within the NCA were in 2012 and 2013, when we added a combined 716 acres to the conservation area, preventing gravel mining at the northern entrance and improving access for boaters and other recreationists.
With the transfer of the Meridian Junction property to the BLM complete, we’ve now protected more than eight miles of the Gunnison River in and adjacent to the NCA. These successes mean more habitat protected for imperiled fish and wildlife and improved recreational access for people within the remote and scenic Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.
