Natural Resources: Inviting and Impacting Development

Lush forests of Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir provided the lumber to extend rail lines and construct homes and businesses in the burgeoning towns. Over-zealous lumber barons clear-cut vast expanses of these forests to supply both local and distant markets. The Forest Service was created in 1905 partly to better manage the nation's forest reserves and the San Juan National Forest was designated that same year.
The twentieth century witnessed an inevitable decline in the mining and agricultural industries. Other natural resources picked up the slack. The incredible scenic beauty of this corner of Colorado had attracted tourists since the 1880s, but the trickle turned into a flood after World War II. By the end of the century, recreational uses had come to dominate the public lands. Scores of new residents continue to fuel a growth boom, impacting our economy and changing our communities.
Development of energy resources may ultimately have the greatest economic impact on southwest Colorado. The San Juan Basin natural gas field is second only in size to the Hugoton Field of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas in the lower 48 states. Since the first commercial gas well was drilled in 1921, more than 25,000 wells have been drilled to tap this huge reservoir.
The Basin also has the world's largest area of coal-bed methane production. This relatively new source of clean natural gas is mostly focused on the Fruitland Formation just south of Durango, and its potential is truly enormous. Other energy resources in the San Juan Basin include relatively small oil reserves and uranium deposits.
Having an abundance of natural resources has been a blessing and a curse. Precious metal mines spurred initial settlement and drove the economy, but mining's boom and bust cycles rocked the towns that depended on it. Farming and ranching provided more stability, but agriculture found itself at the mercy of a short growing season and periodic droughts.
Energy resource development pours money into our economy and contributes heavily to our tax base, but conflicts between producers and landowners result in community tensions. A landscape that offers inspirational views and endless recreational opportunities has lured thousands of new residents who, because of their sheer numbers, threaten the very quality of life that brought them here.
Preserving our quality of life may be the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century. Doing so will require inspired leadership, balanced and informed decision-making, and wise use of our natural resources.

Robert McDaniel is the Director of the Animas Museum and a fourth-generation native of Southwest Colorado. His ancestors were miners and farmers in the San Juan Basin, and his father played a pivotal role in the development of water and other resources in the Durango area.

It was a land of milk and honey. With its abundant natural resources, southwest Colorado beckoned to the masses in the East and Midwest. Young men and women looking to start new lives, adventurers seeking to escape humdrum lives in civilized towns, entrepreneurs looking for investment opportunities - all were drawn to this untamed land full of promise.
The richness of this land has attracted and sustained people for centuries. Lush forests, abundant game, fertile soil and adequate water supported a large Native population long before miners and farmers migrated to this area. Vagaries of climate and a tendency to over-exploit available resources, however, challenged their ability to sustain life here. Future residents would learn these difficult lessons themselves.
The lure of gold and silver brought the first white settlers to the San Juan Mountains in the early 1870s. Farmers and ranchers, attracted to the fertile river valleys of the San Juan River system, followed closely on their heels. Local outcrops of low-sulphur coal provided fuel for industries, homes and businesses.
Mining and agriculture, then, became the backbone of the local economy and remained so for decades. Water was an essential ingredient to both. Industrial plants like Durango's smelters were located next to the Animas River both to tap the water supply and to flush away wastes. Farms depended on irrigation to grow crops in the semi-arid climate. Falling water made hydroelectric generation possible - the Tacoma Power Plant, for example, went on line in 1905. Water, in short, made all things possible.