Running through the heart of Durango, it is the centerpiece of Durango’s overall trail system and a transportation backbone for the community. [15] Insect hatches of aquatic diptera and mayflies occur in the winter and spring months. ", The Animas river is a major white water rafting attraction accounting for 8.9% of Colorado's commercial rafting market while annually generating 45,411 commercial user days and direct expenditures of $5,207,033 (2011 est).[14]. The Animas River Trail (ART), a hard surface shared-use path, is a very enjoyable paved trail great for all ages and skill levels. [2], Spanish explorer Juan Maria de Rivera of Santa Fe recorded the name "Rio de las Animas" (in English, River of Souls) in 1765. A methane seep was reported on the river in Durango, Colorado in 2016.[5]. Animas River is a 126-mile-long river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System. (2015). Brown trout as large as 36 inches (91 cm) have been caught in the Animas. [11] There may be other toxic heavy metals in the plume. https://www.mapquest.com/us/colorado/animas-river-trail-378571988 From Durango the river flows south into New Mexico through the town of Aztec to its confluence with the San Juan River at Farmington. Download a free map of this famous paved path that follows the Animas River through Durango, Colorado. [13]" The metals considered are "cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc, and possibly others. [8] The plug was accidentally removed while investigating a leak at the abandoned Gold King Mine. "When our river turned orange" [High Country News]. The ancestral Puebloan site of Aztec Ruins National Monument is situated along the river in the present day town of Aztec and for much of its course the river flows through native Ute and Navajo lands. Thompson, Jonathan. Animas trout average 12 to 16 inches (30 to 41 cm). [7], In August 2015, the La Plata County Sheriff's Office closed the river to the public after a crew working for the EPA released approximately 3 million gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas. In late spring, summer and through fall the Animas sees caddisfly and mayfly hatches as well as terrestrials such as grasshoppers. The only major tributary of the Animas River is the Florida River which confluences just north of the Colorado–New Mexico border. This page was last edited on 13 September 2020, at 02:41. [6], The Animas serves as habitat to resident and migratory bald eagles which arrive in the winter months to take advantage of the ice-free river. [12] The river's fish population might also be at risk due to the toxic waste that now runs through the river. Recreational fishing with artificial lures and flies on the Animas is available year-round due to moderate winter weather. The Durango and Silverton Narrow gauge railroad follows the river through the canyon to Durango. • Thompson, Jonathan. It is considered a gold medal fishery above Rivera Bridge Crossing in Colorado. (2015). Numerous irrigation ditches serve the surrounding farmland along the river. [9] The mine was last active in the 1920s, but it had been leaking toxic water at a rate of 50 to 250 gallons a minute for years. The Animas is a freestone fishery well populated with rainbow, brown, Colorado River cutthroat, and brook trout. [3] One theory is that the full name of the river was once "Rio de las Animas Perdidas" (River of Lost Souls), although this idea may indicate confusion with the Purgatoire River of southeastern Colorado.[4]. [11], The spill changed the color of the river to orange, and the spill was described as "devastating" by Kim Stevens, the director of Environment Colorado, who said that businesses who rely on the river for profit might have to close down. The Animas River rises high in San Juan Mountains of Colorado at the confluence of the West and North forks at the ghost town of Animas Forks and flows south past the ghost towns of Eureka and Howardsville. Animas River (On-e-mas) (Río de las Ánimas, in Spanish) is a 126-mile-long (203 km)[1] river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System. Location of the mouth of the Animas River in New Mexico, Durango and Silverton Narrow gauge railroad, List of tributaries of the Colorado River, "Durango's Animas River is not one of lost souls", "Geologist: Coal outcrops cause methane hot spot", "Animas La Plata Project Implementation of the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments of 2000", "The toxic Colorado river spill and the menace of old hard-rock mines", "Regional EPA director calls wastewater spill in Animas River 'tragic, "Pollution flowing faster than facts in EPA spill", http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29481905/epa-mine-spill-dumped-880-000-pounds-metals?source=pkg, "Commercial River Use in the State of Colorado 1988-2011", Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, http://www.hcn.org/articles/when-our-river-turned-orange-animas-river-spill, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Animas_River&oldid=978129989, Tributaries of the Colorado River in Colorado, Tributaries of the Colorado River in New Mexico, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Confluence of North Fork Animas River and West Fork Animas River. Larger trout in the 17 to 22 inches (43 to 56 cm) are occasionally caught by anglers. The official Animas River Trail map. The Animas-La Plata Water Project was completed in 2015. The Durango Pumping Plant, completed in 2011, as part of the Animas-La Plata Water Project, draws an average annual of 57,100 acre-feet from the river, for storage in Lake Nighthorse. The project pumps water over a low pass to fill a reservoir, Lake Nighthorse, in Ridges Basin to satisfy Southern Ute tribal water rights claims associated with the Colorado Ute Settlement Act amendments of 2000. [12], In February 2016, the Associated Press reported that the spill "dumped 880,000 pounds of metals" into the Animas River, and that "most of the metals settled into the riverbed. At Silverton, the river flows into the Animas Canyon. The Animas-La Plata Water Project was completed in 2015. "When our river turned orange" [High Country News]. [10] The spill contained the toxic metals arsenic, cadmium, and lead, as well as the metals aluminum and copper.