DURANGO, Colo. - The Bureau of Reclamation and City of Durango recently finalized and signed a lease agreement for recreation management at Lake Nighthorse.
The 25 year agreement transfers recreation management and related responsibilities to the city; including developing, constructing and maintaining facilities and other improvements within the recreation area. Under the agreement, the city will ensure that recreation area administration and associated land use comply with all applicable Federal and State laws and regulations.
The agreement is contingent on Durango annexing Reclamation lands inside the recreation area in order for the city to provide management, law enforcement and emergency services at Lake Nighthorse. Reclamation and the City of Durango will begin annexation discussions soon. Reclamation is also continuing work with its project partners to finalize a cultural resource management plan and programmatic agreement to address how cultural resources will be managed in the future.
Lake Nighthorse is part of the Animas-La Plata Project, which was built to fulfill the water rights settlement of the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes of southwestern Colo.
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
