The idea of a Gunnison River from Paonia to Whitewater open for boating and other public recreation excites local governments that see it as a chance for economic development.

The same idea sparks concerns among irrigators and private property owners on the river who see more public users of the Gunnison translating into more headaches for them.

The Hartland Dam Reconstruction project has ignited a blaze of local enthusiasm for a long stretch of recreational river. Excitement for the idea was running high last Thursday during a meeting of about 15 people who see river recreation as the next big thing.

Represented at the session were the county (three commissioners, planning, and administration), the City of Delta (community development, parks, recreation), the Bureau of Land Management (Gunnison Gorge NCA manager), Town of Hotchkiss, Trout Unlimited, and the NFRIA Conservation Center of Paonia.

The group's idea is to complete a "concept paper" in two weeks that will outline a vision of a river recreation corridor through Delta County. The paper could lead to a planning grant from GOCO.

Mesa County is ready to implement a river park plan stretching from Palisade to the Kokopelli trailhead near Loma, said Glen Black, City of Delta community development director. Delta County could be doing the same kind of thing, he said.

However, County Commissioner Olen Lund counseled caution and a go-slow, well-thought-out approach. "Delta County is a very different area from Mesa County," he said.

In addition, Lund pointed out that there's a lot of private ownership along the banks of the river, and private owners aren't always receptive to river floaters and their sometimes inconsiderate ways.

A county-sponsored public meeting of river corridor property owners took place in 2006 at the Bill Heddles Recreation Center. That meeting resulted in a deluge of opposition from landowners against promoting river recreation in the county. The meeting fairly stifled any broad discussion of the concept, until now.

Now, with the Hartland Dam reconstruction project connecting the river to boaters above and below Delta, and with the availability of GOCO money for comprehensive river corridor planning, the Gunnison River recreation idea has re-emerged.

The BLM is perhaps some two years away from completing a management plan for the Dominguez-Escalante NCA and Dominguez Canyon Wilderness. The City of Delta is angling hard for an official designation as the gateway point to those 300,000 acres of outdoor recreation, and river access is a big part of that vision.

At last Thursday's meeting participants brainstormed a lengthy list of plans and projects that could be incorporated into the concept paper. They included hiking and biking trails, increased river access, fisheries, recreation facilities, obstruction removal, and land acquisition.

Lund cautioned the group against moving too fast in a way that would risk sending the wrong message to irrigators and private landowners along the river whose private property rights will have to be respected.